Hunter
by JulietHunterson
Summary: Hunter is Pitch's daughter and unfortunately for her, he is extremely protective. This causes some issues and when she meets a certain white-haired boy on her third ever trip to the outside world, things begin to snowball. Will Hunter stay under her father's protective wing or has she learned more from Pitch then previously thought? JackXOC
1. prologue

prologue

"There are two types of immortal beings," said my mother as she brushed my curly, slightly damp, auburn hair while we were sitting on the floor in front of our fire-place. My young curiosity was sparked as she spoke, "there are those who lived as humans and died, being reborn by the man in the moon into their new lives, and then there are immortal beings who are born of a mortal parent and an immortal parent."

"Like me?" I asked as I turned to look at her. My mother was beautiful and green eyes. Her hair was the came colour as mine and she always had an air of care and motherlyness about her.

"Yes Hunter, like you," said mother with a chuckle as I turned back around to face the fire, allowing her to resume brushing my hair.

"But there is a catch to those born of a mortal parent and an immortal parent," said another voice. This one was much lower and I knew it belonged to my father. He walked over to his arm-chair which was beside mother and I. My father was tall with black hair and silvery-yellow eyes, like me. He always wore this black cloak and he was very protective. I looked an awful lot like him but with a more childish look to it. I looked up at father curiously as he continued speaking, "There will come a day when the immortal being's body will freeze."

"Freeze?" I asked.

"Yes freeze," said my father, "That is the day when the immortal's body will stop growing and physically, they will stay the same age for the rest of time."

I carefully thought this over trying to understand what he was saying. Mother spoke from behind me saying, "So you could stop growing at ninety or you could stay six forever!"

My eyes went wide with wonder until I felt fingers tenderly touching my sides. I laughed as my mother tickled me. She continued tickling me until I was rolling around on the floor, squirming and trying to escape her fingers. The tickling only stopped when I shouted that I needed to use the washroom. Mother let me run out of the room with a chuckle and I paused at the door, "I love you mommy, I love you daddy."

"I love you too kiddo," said mother. I turned and exited the room but stood by the door to listen to mother and father talk, "She's so charismatic."

"She's just like you," I heard daddy say.

"What age do you think she'll freeze at?" asked mother. There was a pause.

"I don't know. Hopefully at a respectable age," said daddy. I huffed as the conversation changed and I became bored. So I ran to my room in what daddy and mommy call The Lair, and went to go read.


	2. Chapter 1: outside

Chapter 1: Outside

I've been around for many, many years. More centuries than I could on my hands. Having my body frozen at the young age of seventeen and to remain that way forever more. I'm not a chosen one, as my father calls them, but an immortal by birth. My father's name is Pitch Black and supposedly he is a very important figure in the world. I don't know exactly what it is that he does but I'm told that it is crucial and that is the reason I'm not allowed outside.

I've only ever been outside twice and those were the greatest days of my very boring life. Father says that if I do go outside people will do one of two things. They will either walk through me, as these people are humans or they will see me and take me very, very far away. Father says that they will go to some extensive measures in order to get information from me about him or they will hold me for ransom. Father calls these people by many names. The most common include the chosen ones, the guardians and the big four.

My father has always watched out for me, even when my mother died several centuries ago. Father still mourns for her sometimes but that is beside the point. My father's lessons have been crucial in keeping me safe. I didn't have any special abilities like father because I had a mortal mother. Therefore I can't control Father's guards while he can, but being centuries old, in this time father has taught me to wield many if not almost all of the weapons from the outside world and he has taught me about the art of resourcefulness in battle. My skills with most of these weapons are greatly lacking, as I am physically no good at using them. My most prefered weapon came from what the humans call the medieval ages and it's a throwing axe.

Above all of these lessons, Father has taught me four very important things; if I see a large man with a white beard and white hair who can see me as well, run. Run and never look back. If I see a woman who looks like a bird, no matter the size, kill on sight. If I see a small man made of golden sand, make no noise, run away and what ever I do, never touch the golden sand. Finally, if I see a large rabbit who can talk, kill on sight. No exceptions. Father says that these people are the chosen ones by the man in the moon and that they are the ones who will hurt me. Never once have I met them and I certainly never plan to. Father is only trying to look out for me and loyally, I listen to his every order.

Except today. I was dressed in a white and red dress with a black cloak over top. I double checked that my red lase up boots were tied correctly before straightening up my posture and resting a hand on my throwing axe, which was attached to my hip by a belt. I looked myself over once more in the mirror. My steel-yellow eyes glowed back at me in the darkness and my auburn hair was pulled back into a neat french braid. The black cloak helped my body disappear into the darkness of the shadows and I threw the hood over my head, covering myself in it's shadows. I breathed in deeply, giving myself one last chance to back out. But I wanted this. Smirking, I reached for the door handle to exit my room and as quietly as I could, I left the housing wing. Father was still weak and resting from his battle with the chosen ones, so I was extra careful as I passed his room.

I stuck close to the walls to blend in with the shadows as I moved around the lair. Carefully, I snook past Fathers guards, horses made of black sand. As I entered what Father calls the command room, I turned to look around. I had only ever been in here on my last expeditions to the outside world and the room, I noticed, had not changed since the last time I had been in here. For whatever reason, cages still lined the ceiling and the globe with lights on it was still in the center of the room. I never questioned father and his methods. All I know was that he was fighting to keep the two of us safe and earn us the right to gaining freedom. I carefully stuck to the walls and shadows as I moved to the exit. I climbed up and out of the hole in the dirt and came face to face with the outside world for the first time in three hundred years.

It was just as I remembered it. The lush green in the pine trees and the deep brown of the exposed bark. Leaves were beginning to grow on the trees, for it was early spring. I smiled happily and began walking away from our home. All thought left my mind as I took in every detail that surrounded me, from the small amount of snow on the ground, left over from winter to the half moon in the sky. I felt as though the moon was smiling down on me and I took a moment to smile up at the stellar object. It was still night time with dawn fast approaching and yet I felt myself growing attached to this wilderness. For the longest time, centuries now, I've only had my books that father has given me to tell me about the outside world. Even then, I feel as though the authors never really captured the full beauty of nature. It is two very different things to read about how bark feels under a person's skin than to actually reach a hand out a touch the rough surface. It was very surreal.

Feelings of guilt bubbled inside of me as my mind wandered to father but I pushed past the guilt of betraying his orders of staying inside as I watched the sun rise while I came upon a frozen lake. It was beautiful and gave an ora of calmness as I came to a stop in front of it. I watched as the sun turned the sky first red, then orange, then blue as it rose. I took in a deep breath, absorbing the smells of the forest and smiled to myself. I felt a sense of child like wonder fill me at the phenomenon I had just seen and it caused me to vaguely wonder what a sunset looked like. I had only ever read about them but never had I actually seen one in person. My thoughts wondered as I took in the feeling of the sun's warm rays on my pale skin. The sun was warmer then I expected it to be, even if it was early morning and it left a tingling sensation on the pale skin I had exposed.

In the next few moments, I felt the temperature drop and the wind pick up, playing with the fabric of my cloak and accidentally tossing my hood off. I pulled the cloak closer around me to better conceal myself from the cold as I turned to leave. That's when I noticed him. He was striking, with hair as white as snow and eyes as blue as the water from the lake. He also wore a blue hoody and brown pants. The boy stood calmly in the tree line of the forest, blocking my exit. The most notable thing about him though, were three things; first, that he wore no shoes. Second, that he held some sort of curved stick in his hand and third, that he could see me. I knew that he could see me because he took a cautious step towards me and his eyes were looking me over.

I felt a sense of panic over whelming me and suddenly the idea of being outside of the Lair was terrifying. I wanted to do nothing more than to run back home and never look back. Instead, I calmly reached my hand to rest it on my throwing axe, ready to pull it out at a moments notice. I studied the boy carefully, waiting for him to threaten me so I could throw the axe to disable or stun him so that I could run. I vaguely noticed that my heartbeat had quickened and my palms had become sweaty.

The strangest thing about this encounter was that Father had never mentioned this boy to me and Father always saw it fit that he told me of the people he encountered and whom it was I could trust. Father also knew a lot of immortals and this boy didn't fit any of the descriptions that Father had given me about them. The boy's hair was white yes, but he didn't have a beard so I knew that he wasn't the chosen one whom Father told me to run away from. Who was this boy?

"I've never seen you around here before," said the boy. His voice was silky smooth and for a moment I forgot myself. How do you socialize again? I was unsure of how to respond to such a statement, so I stayed quiet. The boy took another cautious step towards me as he ask, "Are you new around here?"

I shook my head 'no', as I didn't trust my voice and I didn't want him knowing anything about me. This boy could be dangerous and I didn't trust him. I fought the will to run away as he took another step towards me so that there was only a couple of yards between us. The boy looked me over again before seeming to remember something and his face scrunched up in confusion. He seemed to be tentative as he asked, "Can you see me?"

I nodded 'yes', still not talking but some how found myself wondering the exact same question but geared towards him. The boy seemed over joyed by my answer and took a couple more steps towards me. He laughed a little as he did so and I felt myself begin to relax. Maybe he wasnt so bad after all. He seemed friendly enough and his laugh was pleasant to the ear, allowing me to relax further. He stood in front of me now with a smile on his face. He held his hand out to me and I winced at the action, uncertain of what his intentions were and the speed at which he presented his hand caught me off guard even if it wasn't very fast.

"I'm Jack Frost," said the boy, or Jack. I looked down at his pale hand for a moment, uncertain of what to do. I supposed that this would be the part in which I was suppose to shake his hand and tell him my name, but there's one problem; I've never done a hand shake before. I'd read about hand shakes in the books that Father got me but never had I actually participated in one. I looked up at him uncertainly then back down at his hand. The boy laughed saying, "It's a hand shake."

I looked up at him irritated at how he thought that my knowledge was limited. My eyes narrowed as I said, "I know what it is. I don't know how it works."

Jack face fell into that of surprise, which turned into a smile. Excitedly he said, "You do talk!"

"Of course I talk," I stated as if it was obvious. I looked down at his still outstretched hand and Jack chuckled again.

"Here," he said his smile growing by the second, "let me show you. Hold out your right hand."

I looked at him unsurely and checked his features for any sign of anything other than friendly body language. I uncertainly removed my hand from where it rested on my axe and held it out, through the cloak. I trusting in this Jack to not deceive me and teach me how to give a hand shake. His smile seemed to widen even more, if that were posible, as he took my hand which was facing palm down and changed it so that it was facing the proper direction.

"So you start by holding your hand out like this," he said as he finished fixing my hand and then held his out the way he had before, "then you reach out and take hold of the other person's hand."

He demonstrated what he meant as he explained and took hold of my small hand in his. His grasp on me wasn't too strong and at the same time it wasn't lose either and I grasped his hand with the same amount of force. Jack chuckled happily, "See! You've got the hang of it already!"

I smiled at our linked hands, feeling very accomplished. Not only was I outside but I finally met someone other than my family and Father's guards. It was strange because Jack was rather nice but Father made it seem as if people would do anything to hurt me. Perhaps he was just trying to make sure that I stayed safe and make me aware that there are bad people in the world. Regardless, I looked up at Jack, the smile still on my face and he smiled back at me saying, "Now there's just one last thing left to do."

Then he started lifting my hand up and down. Shaking it. It made sense now why they call it a hand shake! I laughed and looked up at Jack before looking back down at our hands. That's when I heard it.

"Hunter!" someone called. The voice was distinctively male and I turned to face where the voice had come from. He found out already! But it was still so early! I turned to see the sun still hanging low in the sky and released Jack's hand.

"Hunter!" the voice called again. I gave Jack a look saying sorry and ran past him into the tree line.

"Wait!" I heard Jack call. I turned back briefly as he asked, "Is your name Hunter?"

"Yes!" I answered back.

As I turned to run back to find the voice Jack called out again, "Will I ever see you again?"

As I was about to answer I heard the voice yell my name out again, "Hunter!"

Without even thinking or so much as answering Jack's question, I turned on my heel and ran towards the voice. After a minute or so of running I came upon a clearing, my Father walking through the middle of it looking really angry. I came out from behind the treeline, biting my lip.

"Hey there Dad. Um, fancy seeing you here," I said awkwardly as I tried to make myself seem as innocent as possible. Father was not impressed.


	3. Chapter 2 plan in motion

Chapter 2: Plan in Motion

"Hunter Black! Get back to the Lair. Now!" said my Father angrily. I winced at his tone. When I hesitated he grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me back to the lair. I sent a look over my shoulder as he pulled me to see if Jack was there. I thanked what little luck I had and saw that he wasn't. Father coughed a couple of times as he dragged me home and I looked at him concerned. He was still weak from the fight. He should have just sent out a guard. I looked down at my feet as we came upon the hole in the ground. Father pushed me forward and I carefully lowered myself into our home. I felt guilty. Really guilty. I betrayed my Father and he was weak. I should have been taking care of him, not running off and thinking about my own selfishness.

Father escorted me to my room and pushed me in angrily. I stumbled forward and caught myself on the bottom of my bed . I turned to face Father. He was absolutely furious and yelled, "Hunter Black! I expected better of you! How many times have I told you that you are not to go outside?"

I bowed my head in shame saying quietly, "many times."

"And now you have deliberately disobeyed me. If you ever do that again I will lock you in one of the cages in the control room for the next hundred years! Do you understand?" he shouted. His anger didn't leave him and it was frightening. I'd only ever seen him like this a couple of times, but never was it directed at me. He coughed a couple of times and I resisted the will to stand up from where I sat on the edge my bed and help him back to his room. He was mad and I couldn't do anything to help him. He was stubborn and I was too scared to step out of line. When I didn't speak, too ashamed of my actions Father yelled again, "Do you understand Hunter?"

"Yes Father," I said meekly. Father looked down at me, disappointment and anger written all over his features. He looked as if he wanted to say something more but instead he growled angrily and left my room slamming the door behind him. I sighed as I thought over what just happened. My Father was pissed that I left the Lair although I still don't fully understand why he doesn't like me doing it. I mean, that boy was nice enough. In the three times i have ever been outside, no one has even tried to kidnap me or has treated me wrongly. That boy, Jack was the first person i have ever met and he was really nice. I don't see why Father is so upset. Well at least Father doesn't know about Jack otherwise I'm sure that I would be in even more trouble.

As I continued to think, I turned to lay down on my bed. The outdoors where fantastic and extremely fascinating. I don't think anything bad could happen if I went out there and was being careful. I wanted to go back out, to the outside world but self-restraint kept me from leaving my room. The more I thought about Jack and my adventures outside the more I felt sad. It was as if all my joy was taken from me.

So for the following few days following my expedition I didn't exit my room. Father had cut my adventure short and I know that it was because he was worried about me but I don't see the harm in going outside, even if it was just for a little while. I know that I was being bitter and childish about it and that he was just trying to protect me but I still longed for that sunset that I've never seen. I was over a thousand years old! I could take care of myself. So for those few days that I locked myself up, I spent time thinking about Jack and the liberty and wonder I felt at being outside.

A plan formed in my mind as I sat in my room alone. It came to me when I looked over at the pile of books that were stacked on my bedside table; Lord of the flies, Peter Pan, A Room with a view, Where the wild things are, and on the very top rested Julie of the wolves. A common theme was placed upon these books. They were all about running away and survival of the out doors. I didn't want to run away but I did want to go outsThese it was as if these books were trying to tell me something. I sat up in my bed, nothing but an intense look covered my features. I pulled my hair back into a french braid quickly as I walked over to my desk and feverishly began writing down everything that books have ever taught me on survival. List upon list was made and papers were scattered everywhere over the desk. I went though the geography text books that Father had gotten me a couple of years back and began making notes.

I was back in business mode. Carefully, I planed out every step that I would take, ensuring myself about the best strategies to use. Getting out of the lair was the easy part, evading Father would be the hard part. I would need a head start, I knew that much but where would I go? How would i get there. walking wasn't fast enough and to catch a bus or some sort of ride with a human, i would need to first off know where i was. I needed more information, this was certain. I also would need specific items to carry me through this adventure and I would need to be fit and healthy. Laying around for the last two hundred years has done nothing to help me out and I groaned, frustrated.

So much needed to be done in so little time. It was frustrating. I would need some form of exercise to get in shape. Weapons. Weapons practice. Knowing where the hell I am when I leave the Lair so I can make plans on where to go. Survival gear. Survival and world knowledge. Appropriate clothing for travel and finally I would have to think of a strategy that would carry me through without being caught. A change of appearance will also help to conceal me from him should Father try to come looking for me.

I decided to gather what we had in the Lair that would be of use to me. The weapons room seemed like a good place to start. In the weapons room we had all sorts of weapons and such including swiss army knives, which, from what I have read always seem to come in handy. I would also have my axe so I know that dealing with danger wouldn't be a problem. I hid my notes in a binder and put it in my closet should father decide to snoop.

I snuck out of my room quietly and went to the weapons room. Upon arrival, I quickly crossed the room to the cupboards underneath the swords section and looked in the top drawer. quickly, i took out two swiss army knives and noticed a black bag not to far away? I took it and placed the knives in the side pockets. I was about to exit when I noticed the climbing gear. I took one length of the red rope which would measure out to be around 30 feet when it would be all stretched out. I turned back to the room before leaving and looked to see if there would be anything else that I could use to help. I found a belt that had five pouches attached to it. Inside I found a flair gun and a miniature first aid kit which took up two of the pouches, another pouch was taken up by matches and lighters for starting fires and the remaining two pouches carried a small canteen for water and a longer pouch carried a dagger with a serrated teeth on one side meant for cutting.

I placed the belt in the bag because I didn't need it just yet and returned to my room. I placed the bag in the closet and took out the binder. Crossing out the word **Weapons** that I had written on the list as I looked over the bag. I left the words **Survival gear** alone because although I had quite a bit already, I was still missing water and food, as well as a tent and sleeping bag. **GET IN SHAPE** was neatly written at the top of the list of things to get done but I chose to ignore it. Instead I was going for another segment on the list first, **Get geographical information of surrounding area and survival knowledge**. This would require talking to Father. I would have to be careful in my word choice and actions when talking to him. I walked briskly to his room and knocked on him door.

"Come in," I heard from the other side, my Father's deep voice ringing out. I entered his dark room crossed my arms over my chest, "What do you want Hunter?"

"I'm bored," I stated although at this moment I was anything but bored. My heart was pounding quickly as I told the lie but it came across smoothly and without fault. Father's face scrunched up in annoyance.

"What do you want me to do about it Hunter?" He asked tiredly. I knew that he was on the verge of becoming angry. He was always angry when he was tired.

"I don't know. How about some new books?" I asked, just as pointedly. Father gave me a sharp look, telling me to mind my tone and I leaned my weight on one leg, ignoring his look.

"I'm still weak from the fight and we need to stay hidden-" said Father before I cut him off.

"Just steal them from a library or something," I said. Father seemed to contemplate this with a sick smile on his face.

"Fine," he said finally, "What books do you want?"

"My geography textbooks are out of date, so anything with maps and world knowledge in them will do. Also in the last book that I read it mentioned things about dehydration, so anything that has medical or any other sort of attachment to the word will be good," I said. Father breathed in deeply and looked at me while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Fine. Now get out," he said. I could sence his anger and frustration rising but I kept my bored act up.

"But until I get those books, can't I stay here with you?" I asked with a playful tone.

"No. Get out!" yelled Father. His expression was genuinely frightening and I ran out of the room. I knew that what I said would get a rise out of him but it would also push him to get me those books faster, even if it was for the small price of him being angered with me. I walked back to my room with my eyes narrowed with purpose and determination. It was time to move on to the next step, **GET IN SHAPE**.

I changed out of the dress I wore and into a pair of black shorts and a dark grey top. Picking up my axe, I strapped it to my waist as I moved through the corridors towards the training center. The walk from the housing wing to the training center takes a couple of minutes but time seemed to go by remarkably fast and soon enough I was tossing my axe at targets. My aim at first was a bit off but soon I was hitting the target every time.

I would throw my axe from one side of the room to hit a target and I would sprint to go get it and throw it at the target again. Once I got the hand on running and throwing I began working on rolls. I would collect my axe from the target and tuck and roll away from it, followed by throwing it on my way out of the crouch using the momentum I had gained to throw it even harder and stronger. The process was slow going but I needed weapon work and training counts towards working out because of all of the running around I was doing. I worked myself until I felt like I was going to drop and returned to my room, wearily.

For a moment, I wondered if betraying my Father again would be worth it. I have been loyal to him since day one and quite frankly I didn't want to leave him because we are family and he is all that I have. Once I leave, every bond we built, every moment we shared would have been for nothing. No, not for nothing. I assume that if I do get caught it'll greatly damage our familial relationship, but up until that point I don't think that anything too bad will happen. Besides once I prove to Father that I can live on my own and be successful about it, maybe he'll let me live on my own for good. I could see the outdoors every day and I would have earned my Father's admiration. The good points towards leaving were far outweighing the bad and tomorrow I will continue with my plan. Until then I was going to bed.

Sleep never came easier than the moment my head hit the pillow after working so intensely.


	4. Chapter 3: final stages and air travel

Chapter 3: Final Stages and Air travel

It's been four months since I originally began working towards leaving the Lair. I've been working out daily and I was glad to see that my muscles have become nicely toned and I could now run for hours on end with out getting too tired. I was much better at handling my axe as well. I even worked on my skills at setting snares and knife throwing. I wasn't too horrible at it, but I was good enough to be able to get by. Thanks to the library books father got me I was able to find out that we lived in a forest outside of a town called Burgess in the United States of America. I secretly thanked the library system for placing their name and staking their clams on the insides of their book otherwise I never would have found out.

With the new found knowledge of knowing where I am, I created plans on evading Father and stratigized how I will move once I'm out of the lair. The plan is for me to leave in the dead of night after father has gone to sleep. From there I have two choices. The first choice is to find an airport and hop on a plane, or I could make my way into town and take a bus to as far as it can take me and from there I'll move to unpopulated areas and move along back roads because Father will be expecting me to explore the new areas and what better than a city? As well if I'm in the air Father will have an even harder time finding me. Father is smart though so it is pretty much guaranteed that he will send his guards out to help him locate me once he knows that I'm not in the forest. Meaning that I need to put as much distance between him and I in those first few hours as possible. Furthermore this is an adventure so I want to go sight-seeing while I'm out there.

Once I get a considerable distance away from Father the next step in the plan is a make over. Change in hair and eye colour because in all of the books I've read auburn hair and steel yellow eyes are not normal. That means coloured contacts and hair dye. It also means a bit of shop lifting for a new wardrobe but that's beside the point. The point is that father shouldn't be able to pick me out of a crowd. This means no more of my beloved dresses. It's time for sport shorts, jeans and t-shirts. I'll also have to steal a tent and sleeping bag because unfortunately there is no way of me asking for that with out father getting suspicious.

The next step is gaining extra time. It took a while for me to come up with because I know that Father is smart. That's when it came to me. I'll set up a scavenger hunt for Father with no ending. With a good amount of clues hidden around then it'll be sure to keep him busy for a while. The first clue of course, will be over my empty bed so that he won't be as suspicious right off of the bat. Thus giving me more time.

The very last step that needs to be taken in order to ensure that he wont find me easily, will be to get rid of any evidence that could lead to where I'm hiding. This means I'm taking the notes and the maps that I need and everything else is going up in smoke. Unfortunately for me, that means that I have to burn the geography text books and the books that Father got me on survival and the medical books. As well as all of the books with the survival and runaway themes. All of them need be disposed of.

It was finally the day before I was going to leave. The black bag that I had started out by taking was now fairly full with the rope I found, various maps, a couple of water bottles, a bit of nonpatentable food items and several pages on survival in specific areas. The various daggers that I started using in training have also been packed in there as well. I left some room to put a sleeping bag in and a tent for when I get those. As well as some space to put some clothes when I get them. My outfit for tonight was all planned out and rested in wait in the bag so that Father wouldn't see it. A pair of black pants, a forest green shirt, and a black trench coat. I also had a hat called a fedora so that it would be easier for me to blend in until I would be able to dye my hair.

The final hours were ticking down on the clock as I set up the scavenger hunt for Father. I made sure that the clues were obscure and would take a long time to solve and placed them all in their proper areas. The pressure was definitely on and it felt like a huge weight pressing down on my chest. I was scared, everything had to go perfectly or else I'll get caught. There is so much at stake right now and it's all riding on me and my efficiency.

I breathed in deeply as I tried to calm myself down. Everything will be okay. I can do this and Father will see my true skill. Then he'll let me visite the outside world as much as I want. I began tossing the books that I didn't need in the fire place and prayed that Father wouldn't walk in as i watched the pages burn and luckily, he didn't. The only thing left to do was for Father to go to sleep. In the past few months he's been getting stronger. He can go about his daily routine and walk around the lair but he refused to go outside unless it was absolutely necessary. With this in mind it means that Father will be able to come after me once he figures out that I'm gone. He'll probably have to stop and come home after a while, which will give me an advantage but he still has his guards and he'll probably send them after me as well.

It felt the day was dragging on and on as I double and triple checked all of my equipment. Earlier in the day I sharpened my axe and so it was all ready to go. All i needed now was for father to fall asleep. I went to the kitchen area in the lair and made myself a cup of tea. As I sipped the warm liquid an idea came to me. I put the kettle on again and took out another bag of tea. This tea was specifically made with herbs to sooth and relax the body, so essentially it will help me put Father to sleep. While I waited for the tea to steep in the boiling water, I pulled my hair back into my usual french braid. By the time I had finished my braid the tea was done as well and I smirked mischieviously as I walked out of the kitchen.

Carefully, I brought it over to Father's room where he accepted the tea. I exited the room and patiently waited outside the door. It wasn't long before I could hear snoors from the other side of the door and I took off. Adrenalin coursed through my veins and I felt myself gaining speed as I ran through the hallways towards my room.

I ran in and threw the black bag from where it was hiding in my closet on to the bed. I ripped open the bag and took out the clothes. I was changed out of my dress and into the black clothing in under thirty seconds. I took the two belts that I had hidden and put them on. The first belt was the one holding my axe and I slung it quickly over my shoulder. The other belt was the one containing the five pouches and I attached this one to my waist. As I attached the two belts I looked up at my desk. On the counter top were a couple of hair clips and a pair of black sunglasses. I smirked and took the sunglasses placing them in my bag beside the fedora because I would put them on once i would be outside. The sunglasses where perfect addition to my growing mound of items because they would hide my eyes until I got the coloured contacts. I also took the Bobbie pins and stashed them away in my right pocket. I changed out of my flats and into a sturdy pair of black boots and finally I through the black bag over my shoulders because it was time to go.

Carefully I opened my door and ran out of my room. I smirked knowing that I probably wouldn't see it for a while because at last my adventure was begining. I sprinted down the hallways to get to the command room. I ran amongst the shadows and avoided all of the halls in which Father's guards tended to be located. I got to the control room without any problems but then I noticed all of the guards were circled around the globe. Damn.

I held my breath as I slowly and very quietly crossed the room to the exit hole. I have no idea how I snuck past an entire pact of sand horses but I was just glad that I didn't get caught. I climbed my way out of the exit hole and immediately I was greeted by a warm burst of fading summer air. In one quick and smooth motion, I took the bag off my shoulder and reaching in, I took out the sunglasses to hide my eyes. I left the fedora because I knew that it would be hard to run with it on. The sky looked as though the sun had just set and I didn't waste a moment in choosing a direction and beginning to run. The trees looked different now as they were ending their time in full bloom with leaves on their branches that were beginning to turn shades of orange. I wanted desperately to stop and just look over the trees but I knew that I had to keep going. It wasn't too long until I came upon the frozen lake from all those months ago although it was frozen anymore it was still beautiful. I smiled at the lake as I slowed my pace down to a walk. I took a moment to look at the reflection of the moon on the water, then up at the moon it's self.

Just like last time it was almost as though there was a man in the moon and it seemed as though he was smiling down at me. It was as if he was happy that I was able to be outside again.I smiled up at him quickly before spotting a trail and running along it. The trail led me to a park that was just outside of what I assumed was Burgess. Burgess was everything that I thought it would look like with real houses and real people walking around. Once more I was tempted to stop and stay here, observing my surroundings but I kept going. I ran through the town, searching for something that would help me move faster.

From across the street I heard a couple arguing. At first I didn't think anything of it, until I heard the woman say, "Fine go on your stupid business trip, see what I care. Run along to your airport now, wouldn't want you to miss your flight."

Despite the couple's circumstance, I smirked at my luck and cross the street quickly. The man had opened his car door as he yelled something at the woman who had retreated back inside. Thus giving me enough time to entire his car and jump into his back seat before he could crush me as he sat down. I had never been in a car before and because I knew that the ride to the air port would take some time I decided to rest and see how it worked.

The man put the key in a slot next to a wheel and turned it, causing the car to roar to life. At first I was a bit scared by the noise but then the car started moving and I remembered from my books that cars tended to do that when they were on. The man began driving away from his house without so much as glancing at me, perfect. I took a moment to put the fedora on finally as I took the time to really look around the car. The seats were made of leather and the doors had large tinted windows on them. There was this strange belt contraction that hooked from the top corner of the seat to the bottom corner of the seat. I'm assuming this is called a seat belt but I could be wrong. I quickly familiarised myself with the car and how it worked.

The car ride finished all to soon as the man pulled into this huge parking lot. Thousands of cars were parked here and it took all I had to remember my mission. Everything was so new and fascinating and I loved it. I followed the man into the airport and marveled at how big it was. I continued following him into a line where he dropped off a bag that he was carrying. The woman then directed him to a place called security and then through customs. Finally we were left to wait for our flight. I didn't know which one he was taking but I looked up at a large sign with glowing red letters. On the sign it said the name of destinations and the time they take off at. I smirked as I saw that a plane will be leaving in fifteen minutes to go to Zürich, Switzerland. I don't know exactly where Zürich was but I do know where Switzerland is and it seemed like the perfect area to go.

I waited patiently until I heard a voice telling us that our plane was here. I boarded the plane quickly and stashed myself away at the back of the plane in an open seat. I took a window seat and waited patiently for us to take off. Excitement coursed though my veins as I practically jumped up and down in my seat. This was going to be epic. Soon a voice came on in the air craft and the flight attendants were doing some sort of demonstration. They showed us how to put on some sort of belt and demonstrated what precautions to take should anything happen, but I wasn't scared. The engine of the plane roared to life much like how the car did and soon we were in the air. I looked out of the window in wonder as we rose higher and higher into the air.

The excitement wore off however after about two hours worth of flying. I had already checked out the air craft after the novelty of being in the air had worn off. I spent some time in the cock pit but with all of the buttons and such I couldn't really make heads or tails of what I was observing. The flight attendants were also a bore as they gossiped about some british celebrity. As I sat back down in my seat I over heard a child ask their mother, "Mom how much longer?"

"Give or take another seven or so hours hun," Responded the mother with a chuckle and I groaned loudly. Seven more hours of boredom left. Great. It took a while but sleep finally came. As an immortal I didn't need to sleep very often but because of my mother being mortal, every once in a while it was healthy. The same rules apply for eating and drinking, I don't normally have to but every once in a while helps which is why I had packed food and water. With that in mind I took the seven hours remaining in the flight to rest myself before continuing on with my adventure.


	5. Chapter 4 Switzerland

I woke with a start at the sound of a voice and looked around quickly. I was still on the airplane and over head a voice spoke. I only caught the tail end of their message; we will be touching down shortly. After falling asleep the flight had gone by rather quickly but because I was un use to sleeping in a chair, as my bed was always on hand, I was now very sore. I stretched my arms and neck out as best as I could but that kink was still there.

I looked out of the window and watched as we slowly made our decent to the ground. It was still dark out so there wasn't much for me to see. It was unfortunate but I was sure that I'd get to see an airplane landing one day. The flight attendants began waking people up and stating that we had arrived in Switzerland. The giddy excitement was back as I followed the drowsy crowd out of the air craft. I wasn't paying much attention to the people so much and took my time to truely take in my surroundings. Father was far behind me now and I knew that if I took a couple of moments to look arround it wouldn't be much harm. After all he was an entire ocean away.

The airport was large and people were shuffling through in every direction. It was interesting to watch the people go. A young couple hugging and looking around excitedly, a daughter running up to her father in welcome. It was fantastic and fascinating. For a brief moment, I longed for some form of companionship. My mind flashed back to the image of Jack causing me to smile. I knew that I at least had a friend, regardless of if I'll ever see him again or not. No matter how comforting the thought was what happened in the following few moments scared me.

It felt as if all the air was suddenly pushed out of my lungs as a person walked through me. It left a tingling feeling behind that was very unpleasant. It was as if while they were walking through me, they had rearranged my bones causing them to stir and shake as they attempted to get back into place. I knew that this wasn't possible but at the same time it was frightening and I didn't want it to happen again but of course because I had stopped in the middle of an airport it did. The second person to go through me was a child and although they only walked through my legs and lower torso, it still left me wide-eyed and shaking. I ran desperately to get out of the airport. The less people the better.

It was weird. Father had said that the humans wouldn't be able to see me but he never said anything about them walking through me! I panted as I finally reached the outdoors and I took in as much air as I could. I never wanted to experience that again but I knew that I had to in order to get away from here.

I chose to follow a woman to her truck. It was what was called a pick up truck and I hopped in the back. That was another mistake. I spent most of the car ride holding on to the vehicle for dear life. At one point we had stopped at a stoplight and I took my chance. I hopped out of the back of the dreaded thing and I all but flung myself at the ground. Dawn was fast approaching at this point and I stopped momentarily to look up at the sky. It was as beautiful as on that day several months ago. I smiled to myself before wandering the town on foot.

I came upon a several clothing stores which had just opened up for the day and shuffled through their things. They didn't really have too much that would help me mainly based on the style but I did finally find one store where I took a pair of tan shorts and a green t-shirt as well as a brown t-shirt and a black wind breaker. It wasn't much but it was better now that I had changed out of the long black clothing. After all, it was the end of summer and despite being immortal, temperatures do effect me. The clothes that I wore when I left the lair were now placed neatly in my bag as I wore the tan shorts and green t-shirt that I took.

With a sense of pride, I exited the store and continued making my way around town, taking in the sights. Vaguely, I wondered what Father was up to. If he notice I was gone or not. As soon as the thoughts came, I dismissed them. This would mark the first twelve hours of my adventure and I did not want a guilty conscience to be the one to send me home. I walked past a store which was advertising some sort of cosmetics and had to do a double take. I looked through the glass again before running inside. That so-called advertisement in the main display case was actually showing for hair dyes and I smiled at my luck.

I carefully inspected the bottles and the different colours being shown before I settled on a single colour of permanent hair dye, which I found ironic. The colour was called Pitch black and it looked to be the shade of my father's hair. I laughed quietly as I took several bottles of the Pitch black hair dye and added them into my bag. I was actually really excited for the make over and I knew that all that was left for me to do was to get the coloured contacts. That was the tricky part. How does one obtain colored contacts to begin with?

I sighed. This would be harder than I previously anticipated. I bit my lip before continuing to travel. I took in the sights of the city and shopped around for a while. It was really interesting. Cars came and went on streets in various colours shapes and sizes. People of different skin colour, high, and weight walked around. Some walked in groups, laughing and smiling. While others walked briskly in different directions carrying things like brief cases and hand bags. They all walked in their own directions, doing their own thing and it made me think.

What was my purpose? Yes, I got out and yes, I was happy about it but these people were seen and they were contributing to society. Meanwhile I had just stolen a bunch of clothes and hair dye. I bit my lip uneasily and dismissed the harsh thoughts. I should be happy with what I have because I have worked hard to get here.

I stood from the bench I was sitting on and wondered down a road. I wasn't really sure where I was going but I was absorbing all of my surroundings. In the distance I heard the faint and familiar cry of one of fathers guards.

One of father's guards!? I turned around quickly and saw the black horse running over the roof tops of the town. How did he find me so quickly? I ran down the street praying that the horse hadn't seen me and without really meaning to, I found myself back at the air port. I sighed and narrowed my eyes playfully at the building and quickly made my way inside.

I thanked my luck as the airport announced the last call for a trip to Canada. I wasn't entirely sure where it was going to in Canada, but I was just happy that Canada was very far away. I smirked at my luck and ran to find the proper gate. I moved quickly, taking special care to not touch anyone and just as they were closing the doors to the plane I was able to slip inside. I gasped a couple of times as I just ran a great deal before purposefully walking through the flight attendant to find a seat.

Even though I meant to walk through the woman, it still left that uncomfortable and odd feeling in my bones. At the moment, I was too busy grabbing a seat at the back of the plane and catching my breath. My eyes were wide with not fright but with worry. Did the horse see me? Is it getting Father now? How did Father's guards get here so quickly? Is Father far behind? Will he take me back to the Lair? I didn't want to go back! Not yet at least. It hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet.

After watching the take off which calmed me and my thought significantly, I walked to the back of the airplane into the bathroom that they had there. It was small and smelt weird but I put up with it as I took out one of the bottles of hair dye. I read and followed the instructions carefully as I patiently changed the colour of my hair. I rinsed out the formula at the appropriate time. The black hair was difficult to get use to at first and I found that I looked exactly like my Father. I smiled at the results and exited the bathroom with my still very wet hair. I found that it gave me a haunting look, with my pale skin, pink lips and silver-yellow eyes.

I returned to my seat and was delighted by what I saw outside the window. The sun hung low in the sky giving the clouds a lovely pink tint and the sky itself was close to an orange colour. It was fascinating and everything I dreamed it would be. My heart did little leaps as the sun dipped lower in the sky until finally it was out of sight. I sighed happily. My first sunset. Finally! I had been dreaming of seeing this since I began reading and finally I was able to witness the true beauty and magic of sunset. It really was all that authors made it out to be and I smiled softly to my self as I toyed with my newly coloured hair.

So much had happened in such little time and I was beyond ecstatic. Just a mere twenty-four hours ago was I under my Father's watchful and restricting wing and now I had been on two flights, seen an entire city, changed my hair and done something for myself for the first time. It was utterly fantastic and despite my almost run in with Father's guards, I couldn't be happier with myself.

My thoughts wondered to my up coming destination as I tapped my fingers on the chair rests. What was Canada like? What did the people there look like? I was very excited to say the least. I had read quite a lot about Canada several years back and in most of the books it said that it was a harsh land with very cold winters and unbearably warm summers. They also said that Canada was covered with large forests and huge mountains. I wondered if it was actually like that.

Tiredly, I took out several maps and a pen provided by the airline. I carefully circled where I wanted to go and calculated how long it would take in an approximation to get there. I had concluded that in order to reach the arctic circle it will take several days as well as a couple more plane flights. Provided I'm not walking or running to the arctic circle on foot I should get there within about a week but if I did have to walk well I'm assuming a month won't be long enough. I smiled wearily but drew a picture of a snow flake in the corner of the map to keep myself motivated. I knew that because it was the beginning of september right now in Canada in order to obtain my goal of not only seeing snow but watching it fall, I would have to go pretty far North. Besides, I figured, why not kill two birds with one stone, and while I'm up there why don't I check out the Northern lights. I smiled contently, the arctic circle it is then.

I packed my maps away as I yawned, somehow tired from the days adventure and for the second time in twenty-four hours I fell asleep in a very uncomfortable moving chair.


	6. Chapter 5: Canada

Chapter five: Canada

I've been in Canada for six days now and so far I've managed to make my way up to a town called Yellowknife. It's still fairly warm here and there isn't any snow yet because its just coming upon early september. It turns out that the guard that was in Switzerland with me probably never did see me because I have yet to see any sign of Father or if it did see me the plane ride got me out of there in time for Father to miss me.

After the plane ride I landed in a place called Toronto and I stayed there for a day before taking a plane to Edmonton. From there I accidentally hopped in the wrong car because I thought that it was the woman who said she was going north. Not the woman who had come from the north. It was a stupid mistake but the woman took these beautiful country roads and the sunset from this type of wilderness was incredible. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the sun dipping lower and lower in the sky. I had made it a point to absorb the sun after that first day in switzerland But this was just incredible. It just reminded me of how happy I was to be outside at last and doing stuff for me because I want to and not stashed away from the world Because of father's job.

It took all night for me to find my way back to Edmonton and move north. Luckily, the person in the next group that I road with had a large mouth and so I was able to find out that they were heading north to do what they called polar bear dips. I still wasn't too sure what a polar bear dip was but it sounded fun. according to what I had over heard it's when they cut a hole in the ice and people take turns jumping into the freezing water. It's dangerous according to these road trippers, but extremely fun.

I liked shadowing this group. They had a good sense of humor and they did things the right way. They took country roads up more often than not and stopped in small towns. They were funny and took their time to do things. It was as if they didn't have a care in the world. I was sad that they couldn't see or hear me because I would have liked to introduce myself to them and maybe become part of their group. Alas, the fates were against me but I still enjoyed myself regardless.

When we had arrived in Yellowknife I was surprised at the warmth. In all of the stories and books I had read they always said that Northern Canada was a cold and unforgiving land and yet here I was, in the begining of september and it was still in positive degrees and so that means that there was no snow to be seen for miles. It put a bit of a damper in my spirits but i continued on with them.

In yellowknife, I stuck by the group that I had found myself growing attached to as we went shopping. I found some warmer clothes and took a couple outfits and a winter jacket. As we left the store the boys of the group complained about having not yet "slept under the stars". This caused the girls to huff but reluctantly they followed the boys into a camping store to which I found a warm sleeping bag and one person tent.

I found that all of my newly acquired items wouldn't fit in my bag anymore but after all this was a camping store so they must have bags and have bags they did. I marveled at the different types of bags, camel backs which carried water, Algonquin sacks, regular bags, chalk bags for mountain climbing, the list goes on. I took one of their smaller Algonquin sacks off the racks and inspected it. It was significantly larger than my old bag but at the same time it wasn't too big as to look strange. It was the perfect size. I placed all of my items in the bag and it still had some room left over. It was able to fit all of my clothes, the sleeping bag, the tent, the small amount of food I had left over, as well as my knifes, water bottles and all of my hair dye. I discarded of my old black bag as I looked over my new forest green one and smiled triumphantly until I noticed that the group was no longer in the store.

My heart leapt into my throat and I had a momentary paniced. I was relying on these people, regardless of if they knew it or not to get me to the arctic circle and now they were gone. I ran back to where I last remembered seeing their truck that they were driving in and was thankful that it hadn't moved. I let out the breath of air that I didn't even know that I was holding and walked calmly towards the vehicle. I took my time to observe my surroundings just like everywhere else people were constantly moving, everyone with their own purpose and I smiled. One day, I will find my purpose but until that day I would be content with what I had.

The truck was parked in a parking lot outside of a walmart and despite my better judgement, I went inside. The store was huge and I marveled at its size. There must have been at least several thousand teams for sale here and I was awe struck by it all. I walked around the store for a while before something caught my eye. **Optics store** read the sign and I smirked. Maybe this store would have the coloured contacts that I have been searching high and low for.

Boy was I right. My smirk grew as I looked over all of the different shades and colours that they had. This store had every colour from purple to blue to neon green to red to black. It took me a while because I wasn't sure if I wanted the forest green or the light blue, but in the end I settled for the blue. Carefully I took a box of the contacts and checked them as I had read in books, for any rips. Seeing as there weren't any I carefully placed the contacts in.

I looked myself over in their full length mirror that they had beside the display case and gasped. I looked like a completely different person with my skin now carrying a light tan, my newly coloured black hair and my eyes. They were stunning now the silvery-yellow from before transformed the light blue and the silver under tones of my origional eye colour gavitched even more dimension. It was truly stunning. This girl wasn't me. She looked stronger somehow. More confident. I smiled at my reflection in the mirror before taking several bottles of eye drop fluid and cleaning fluid for the contacts and placed them in my bag. I was finally free. I finally felt free. I didn't have to wear the hat anymore to hide my hair and I could finally take off the sunglasses that I had worn for days without end.

I smiled at my transformed figure one more time before exiting the store. I came out in time to see the group was walking towards the truck with smiles as big as my own. Carefully I hopped in the back as one of the girls opened their door. Our trip continued as we kept heading farther and farther north until I finally saw it. Snow. It was white and blanketed the earth beautifully as it sparkled in the sunlight. It was magical to say the least and even my companions in the truck cried out and cheered when they saw it.

I felt like a child again, wonder fueling my every move as I pressed my hand up against the cold window. I couldn't contain the laughter that came to my lips. It was wonderful and amazing all at once. The beauty of the fresh snow was striking as it covered the ground around the roads. I wondered what snow looked like when it was falling. How it felt when it would touch my skin.

We passed a road sign that caused my smile to widen ever farther. It read **Welcome to the Arctic Circle**. We had made it. I had made it. I wondered what the aurora Borealis looked like and I could barely contain my excitement. I wanted to hop out of the car right here and now and run around in the snow. I was excitedly hopping up and down in my seat and the same thoughts kept running through my mind; I made it and I've seen snow!

The car stopped finally about an hour later in a small town and I scrambled out of the vehicle. I bent down and touched the snow. It was light and fluffy, leaving my hands feeling a cold tingling sensation. It was fantastic and wonderful and new. I loved it. The moment was surreal and I laughed. I had made it and now I was touching real honest to goodness snow! Taking a moment to think back to that day that I snook out several months ago, I recalled vaguely that there was snow on the ground then as well and I scolded myself for letting the oppertunity to touch it pass.

As the snow that I held in my hands melted I picked some more up to replace it, loving the coolness that it left on my palms. I giggled stupidly at how much wonder I was filled with because of such a small task. The wind picked up and thanks to my new clothes it didn't effect me. I smiled widely and began running around tossing the snow in the air joyfully. I was about to run off seeing as I didn't need to be tied down to the others anymore but I felt a pang of sadness wash over me. The others were all laughing and standing around the car. Carefully, I walked over to the truck that was in desperate need of a wash because of our back road adventures and wrote two words; **Thank you**. I smiled wearily and headed off in my own direction. I would forever be indebted to this small group of people whom I had gotten to know, regardless of the matter that they had no idea I was there.

It didn't take me long to reach a small restaurant and I opened the door. I knew that I wanted to settle here for a while and where else to hear rumors fly than in a restaurant. I looked around my surroundings in wonder. It was a cosy little place that burned wood for heat and everyone here seemed so hearty and happy. It still filled me with wonder every time I found myself in places like this and although it made me happy that I was following my dream, the thought of father being home by himself still nagged at the back of my mind. He was probably very lonely and I hope that he hadn't done anything rash because of me.

Despite the thought of betrayal hanging over me like a dark cloud, I pressed on. Slowly, I walked up to a table where a group of men seemed to be discussing matters of great seriousness. The table was round and at it sat six men, whom a waitress was serving drinks in mugs. Each man took their drink and held on to their cup as they furthered into their conversation. There was a man with a beard whom the rest of the men regarded seriously as he spoke. I made my way over to the table where they sat and heard what sounded like the middle of the conversation.

"-stated in their will," finished the bearded man. A seemingly younger man spoke up, looking shocked.

"So they want us to find their kid that they gave up for adoption so that we can give them the cottage. That could take months!" said the young man.

The bearded one spoke again in a more calm matter than the young man, "Yes, that's what it said and Linda and Dave intrusted this task on us upon their death. So we'll need to start doing research. Until we find their kid, the house's empty. Kinda sad, eh?"

I smiled devilishly and tuned out the rest of their conversation. Now I could have a place to stay while I was up here. This was perfect. I felt bad for the couple and whatever happened to them but their loss was my gain and as I soon found out, my gain could not have been sweeter. The young man drove up in a snow mobile to a house in the middle of no where. I followed the tracks to where it lead me to house resting on the top of a mountain and over looked a lovely valley. The view was not only amazing but the fact that it was surrounded by a fairly thick forest gave it a sence of almost magic. The structure itself looked to be quite large and appeared more of a cottage than a house because of its wooden outside. I noticed as I followed the young man in that there was a large stack of fire wood alongside one of the houses.

It was at this moment, standing at the front door that I decided this would be my new home and it was going to be great. A smirk crossed my features as the young man opened the door and I'm certain that if I had a mirror, I would see that I looked almost exactly like Father.

The inside of the cottage looked even better than the outside. With wooden floors that left a soft glow from where sunlight streamed in through frost covered windows. Worn, soft brown furniture decorated the different rooms and pictures of animals and scenery lined the walls. It looked to be smaller on the inside of the cabin than the outside but I didn't mind. A kitchen and a bedroom would have sufficed but I noticed as I followed the young man through the house that not only were there a kitchen and bedroom but a living room and what appeared to be a study.

I smiled softly to myself and I set down my bag on the desk in the study. I carefully noted all of the maps in the room and the smell of old books that lingered in the air. Vaguely, I heard a door close and I assumed it was the young man who had gone off. Curiosity coursed through my veins as I looked over the room. A large and worn leather chair was placed neatly in front of a desk facing the far wall. Bookshelves lined either side of the desk with a large world map placed in the empty space of the wall.

The books in the shelves were seemingly old and musty but the kind of old and musty that comes with the love of being read over and over again. I recognized a couple of titles a Shakespeare book or two. Les miserables. Shirley Jackson's the housing of hill house. The entire Sherlock Holmes collection of short stories. It was fantastic and I already knew that this house, out here in the woods of Canada, had become my home.

I took my time familiarizing myself with the house. I sat in every seat displayed in the living room which had a fantastic view of the valley through the large windows. I examined the pictures that lined the walls. Three of the seven pictures consisted of wolves. Two consisted of polar bears. One showed a man and woman-the deceased most likely- smiling happily in what looked like the forest and without much thought, I smiled back contently. The final image was that of a landscape and in it showed the picture of a wave crashing against an iceberg. I marveled silently at this picture as I could all but feel the power of that wave hitting up against the massive structure. I bit my lip and made a mental note to remind myself that the next place I wanted to travel to would be to the ocean.

The next room on my list that I explored was the kitchen. A small table with four chairs occupied one corner and the other walls were lined with counter top. I ran my hand across the smooth surface of the granite as I explored all of the cupboards. Some held plates while other held utensils. There was hardly any food which concerned me and all of the food left looked like it was none perishable. I checked the expiring date on them and noted that they were all still fresh. A sink had water dripping from its tap and I left it alone as I checked the fridge. No food was left in here and I wondered where it had all gone.

I moved on to the bedroom last as I willed this to be the most magical room in the house but surprisingly it wasn't. The almost bare walls-save for one lone picture of what looks to be a carnivorous forest in summer time- were painted a soft green and the queen size bed had a crisp white comforter and brown sheets. The bed side tables on either side of the bed only contained books. A brown dresser stood against one wall but was devoid of all clothing. In the closet I found a harpoon and a cross-bow but no arrows. I smirked playfully, good to know.

I found that overall, the house was rather fantastic but if one would have guessed, they would have never been able to figure out whom might have lived here because there was no real signs of any sort of personal belongings despite the photo in the living room. It was strange because in all of the books that I've read they always spoke about how people liked to add their own flavor to a living space. These people either opposed this tradition or the towns people had already gather what belonged to whom. Either way, I didn't mind.

I unpacked my things carefully and placed them on top of the dresser. I folded my cloths and placed them in the top drawer and carefully I took the multiple bottles of hair dye and stashed them under the sink in the bathroom that attached to my bedroom. The bathroom was as vague as the other rooms with tan walls and green towels it felt like it was lacking but the bare minimum seemed to give it its own uniqueness.I walked back into the bed room and took the bottles of contact fluid and stashed them next to the hair dye. Walking back into the bedroom once more, I emptied the rest of my bags contents on top of the dresser.

I arranged the contents into an orderly fashion on top of the dresser. I replaced the sleeping bag and tent in the bag because I didn't need them just yet. I placed the last of my food into a very small pile on the right hand corner of the dresser so that I would remember to bring it into the kitchen with the other food that I had found. I took the water bottles and placed all five of them, including the cantine from my resource belt next to the food so that they could be filled. Next, I placed the multitude of knifes that I had gathered on the center of the dresser going from an order of smallest to largest which includes the two swiss army knives and the dagger from the resource belt. I decided to take off the resource belt finally and placed it so that it lay parallel with the length of the dresser below the knives.

Next came the maps which I left in their neat and folded state on the left corner of the dresser. The length of rope which I placed underneath the food and taking up the bottom right corner of the dresser's counter top. I decided at last to take off my jacket and tossed it on the bed before removing the resource belt finally and placed it so that it lay stretched out and parallel with the length of the dresser below the knives handles which were facing me. Lastly, I took off my axe, belt and all and placed it diagonally beside the knives and huffed. That was everything that I had. Nothing more, nothing less and I felt significantly lighter now that I wasn't lugging all of my stuff all around anymore.

I hopped of to the kitchen where I looked out the window that rested over the sink and smiled childishly. I ran outside with out a second though and stared at the sky in wonder. All around me snow was falling in large tuffs of white in an almost blur and I held out my arms. I couldn't contain my smile as I felt the cold bite at my exposed flesh and the tingling that came with the first bits of snow that have ever landed on me. A happy laugher escaped from my lips at the sight but I figured, who was I to hold it back. Now one could judge me for acting in the manner in which I was. Not Father, not his guards, no one.

Father. I lowered my arms and looked at my feet, my happiness diminishing as I thought. I wondered what he was doing. Was he still looking for me? Probably, I figured. I felt bad for leaving him but it had to be done sometime right? Besides, I was happy now and who's he to stop me because he was afraid. He'll never admit it but he's been terrified of losing me ever since mom died and worst yet, he's even more afraid of the guardians, who ever they are. Besides at one point everyone as to leave the nest right? Or at least I think that's how the saying goes. Regardless, I decided that now was not the time to mope. This was after all my first snowfall.

I looked up at the sky quickly before running back inside and grabbing my jacket and a set of keys from the counter top beside it before running to my room and grabbing my axe. I was glad that I chose not to take off my boots when I had first entered the house because I waisted no time in throwing on the heavy coat and pocketing the house's keys, followed by strapping my axe around my shoulder much like a how one would strap on a sword. I closed the door behind me in a fury of movement as I ran back outside. I stood outside the door for several moments just staring at the sky then at the land around me. I smiled calmly before walking towards a gap in the treeline that surrounded the property.

The forest was beautiful and resembled the forest from home which caused me to smile. The snow built up steadily around me as I continued walking down the forest trail. It made me happy to be so close to nature and I marveled at the sights surrounding me. I walked at a steady pace while I admired the falling fluffs of frozen water. Part of the way through the walk, I came upon a cliffs edge. Carefully, I walked close to the cliff side to admire the view that it gave. From the hight that I was at it was "Absolutely stunning isn't it?"

**A/N: dear readers, please note that I won't be updating for the next four days because I have writers block and therefore Ill need some time to figure out the next part. also, in the next part things begin to get complicated and therefore I need some time to double check and make sure that there aren't any plot holes. Thank you for you patience and if there is any issues or anything you want to talk about feel free to leave it in a review or PM me :) -Juliet Hunterson.**


	7. Chapter 6 Jack Frost

Chapter six: Jack Frost

"Absolutely stunning isn't it?"

The voice was friendly and familiar. I wiped out my axe from reflex and sheer instinct as I turned around to locate the voice. A chuckle sounded and I looked up into the branches of the trees. There he stood, just as I remembered him. The white as snow hair and blue as the sky set of eyes. He peered down at me curiously as I smiled and let my fighting stance fall.

"The view's even better from down here," I said coyly. Jack let out another laugh and hopped down from the tree. For a moment I was worried he might hurt himself but a strong wind picked up and carried him safely to the ground. He seemed rather stunned as he neared me.

"You can see me?" he asked and I chuckled as I nodded a 'yes'. He let out a laugh as his stunning smile grew even wider, "another one!"

Confusion crossed my features, "Another one?"

"You're the second teenager to see me," he said proudly and I bit back a laugh as I recalled that I was also the first. I assumed that he didn't recognize me because of my newly changed black hair, blue eyes and no longer pasty skin colour.

"Well, you're the first to see me," I said with a happy chuckle and technically it was true.

"Really?" he asked as he took a step towards me, quickly diminishing the gap between us, "My names Jack. Jack Frost."

Jack held out his hand to me but unlike that first time we had met in the woods, I knew what I was doing. I held my hand out to him as I gave a giddy smile. I was proud that I knew at least one custom in society and how to perform the act. Even though it was because of him but regardless, it still counts in my mind.

A thought came to me in the moments that I was moving my hand out to grasp his, should I tell him my real name? He knows the controled, caged and auburn haired me as Hunter, but what about the wandering, curious and black-haired me? I feel like I dissevered a new name for all of my accomplishments and trials that I've been through. I've grown so much in my time spent outside exploring. I continued smiling as we began shaking hands and made up my mind, "Scarlett."

Scarlett, that was a normal name right? I mean, Scarlett was a character in Gone with the wind by Margaret Mitchell so that means that that name was at least somewhat common right? I guess it doesn't help that I fell in love with the name the first time I read it. It was, in a way, different from my old name just by the sounds used but I liked how they still held a sort of relation to each other with Hunter being associated with killing-which by default is associated to blood- and Scarlett is associated with the colour bright red- which by default is also associated to blood. I thought the name was suitable and in a way suited me and I'm happy of my choice and clearly Jack was as well as he smiled even wider while saying, "Nice to meet you Scarlett."

"And I, you, Jack," I said as we finally let go of each others hands. Although I was immortal and I spent almost the entirety of my life living in the cold and darkness of the lair, Jack's hand was still cold. Not so much as to be uncomfortable but it felt like it was just a few degrees under what it should have been or what I assumed it should have been. I was surprised that I didn't notice this the first time that I shook hands with him although I'm assuming it was because i was so excited to have met someone in the first place. Jack let go of my hand after a moment and we stood there in silence, simply taking each other in. I knew now that Jack was immortal because of his little jump down from the very tall tree. Although, I didn't know specifically know what type of immortal he was. Rgardless, I was still happy he could still see me.

"So, you can actually see me?" He asked after a moment of silence. I smiled again.

"Sure do," I responded happily, "All immortals can see other immortals, or at least that's what father has told me."

"Immortal? You're immortal?" asked Jack in a confused manner.I nodded my head 'yes'. Jack's brows came together as my answer caused more confusion, "How old are you?"

"Old," I responded with a laugh, "but biologically, I'm seventeen and you?

"I was eighteen when I died but I'd have been around for three hundred and one years this winter," he said wearily. So he was born under the man in the moon. I took a step towards him with a small smirk on my face as I tapped his cheek a couple of times in a joking manner.

"Awww, look at you! So young and spry!" I teased and Jack swatter my hand away with a laugh.

"I'll take that as a complement , old lady,"

"Hey!"

"So really, how old are ya gramma?"

I pouted and crossed my arms over my chest as I said in a very quiet voice, "One thousand four hundred and fifty-six does not make me your grandmother."

Jack smirked, "Sorry, what was that? I didn't quite hear you."

I narrowed my eyes playfully at the boy, "For a kid, your ears don't seem to work so well."

"Oh, I'm hurt."

"Welcome to reality."

"You're mean," he pouted.

I smirked, "It's in my blood."

"So are you gonna answer the question?"

"Don't you know that it's rude to ask a woman her age?" I responded smartly.

"You're hardly a woman."

"Says you, back in medieval time I would have been married with at least two or three kids by now," I retorted with a smirk.

"So you were around during the medieval ages?"

"Yes."

"You're old!"

"Am not! A thousand years is not that old!"

"Whatever you say grandma."

"I'm not even a thousand!"

"Let me guess, you're older."

"Maybe," I said biting my lip and Jack laughed. I pouted and Jack's laughter increased, "Come on being, a thousand four hundred and fifty-six years old doesn't make that old, does it?"

Jack's laughter stopped as he looked at me wide-eyed, "Seriously? A thousand, four hundred and fifty-six years old?"

"You gotta problem with that?" I asked the boy as I raised an eyebrow quizzically at the boy.

"No ma'am," said Jack with a smirk. I rolled my eyes at the white-haired boy and began walking back in the forest. I turned back around briefly as I motioned for Jack to follow me.

"Let's walk, I'm tired of standing around," I said. Jack caught up to me in seconds and together we began walking. In the couple moments of silence that followed suit as Jack caught up the me, I reflected on how I was able to talk to this boy so easily. All of these years, I expected myself to be shy like the lonely characters depicted in the stories but I think that after spending so much time with the road trippers and watching them talk and bicker with each other, I picked up on a couple things and I smiled. The silence between Jack and I was a bit unnerving and I waited for Jack to speak because, well, I guess I didn't really know what to talk about with him. How do people start conversations exactly? The social norms still escaped me and luckily Jack seemed to notice this and took charge in starting a conversation.

"So you must know a lot of spirits then, right?" He questioned curiously. His head was cocked ever so slightly to the right side as he asked his question and I found it absolutely adorable.

"Actually, like i said before you're the first," I said happily. Surprise took over his features as he looked me over.

"Really?" He asked and I nodded.

"Other than my Father, you're the first person to ever see me," I explained.

"Who's your father?" asked Jack. I felt my heart rate pick up and quickly, I thought over an appropriate answer. If I told him there would be a chance of me being taken away either back to Father or worse he might know the chosen ones and take me to them. I trusted Jack but not enough yet. I didn't know his true intentions and sure he seemed nice enough but I knew that I couldn't tell him who my Father was. I decided to attempt to avoid the question.

"He's, well, he's very important and he's the reason why I've never met anyone before I met you," I explained as I danced around any information that might give either myself or father away. Jack seemed satisfied with my answer and nodded his head sadly.

"He seems overprotective," Jack noted and I let out a chuckle.

"You have no idea," I said.

"So what about your mom?" asked Jack as he continued to carry the conversation.

"She died a long time ago," I said, " I think I was around fifty years old at the time. But enough about me. What about you?"

"What about me?" asked Jack.

"Well you know about me and my family life, so what about yours?" I asked. Jack looked down at the snow and slowly he began to explain. He talked about his childhood and how he was born in the Victorian era. I smiled as he spoke about having a sister and ice skating.

"Will you teach me?" I asked as he paused at the end of one of his stories.

"Teach you to skate?" he asked. I nodded and he smiled, "Sure, one day."

I smiled widely and he continued telling me about his human life. It sounded so nice and I longed to live like he had. Day in and day out being able to go out and play with children, where as all of my life, I was stuck in the lair. My life seemed so plain, like I've never actually lived. I was happy that I was out in this wilderness and the guilt from earlier left me again as I remembered why I was doing this. I watched Jack as he spoke. The snow lightly fell around us and it stuck to his snow-white hair, blending in with its colour. His hair looked so soft as it blew in the gentle breeze and when he moved it gracefully followed. He excitedly recounted a tale from his childhood and used his hands to accent specific points in the story. I laughed as he went on and I noticed how his eyes lit up with a joy and intensity that was foreign to me. I liked being around him.

Our time together was cut short as the trail ended and we were now back at the cottage. I smiled at him then looked at the sky, taking notice of how dark it had become. I looked back at him and stifled a yawn.

"Looks like it's past someone's bed time," said Jack with a smirk as he stopped part of the way to the house.

"Ha ha, real funny Frost," I said sarcastically, after all, living years with my father, I had learned to master the use of sarcasm. I walked up to the door and put the key in the slot, turning it and I reached for the door knob.

"Wait, will your Father let you out again tomorrow?" Jack asked in what sounded like desperation.

"I don't live by his rule anymore," I said with a smirk, "So you'll definitely be seeing me again."

Jack smiled and I smirked as I was finally able to answer his question from all those months ago. _Will i ever see you again?_ Yes, Jack. Yes you will be seeing me again and i look forward to it. I turned back around and opened the door. I didn't bother with a good-bye as I stepped inside and closed the door because I knew that I'd be seeing him again soon.


	8. Chapter 7: Guardian

Chapter 7: Guardian

And soon was right. It had been ten days since I'd meet Jack again and re-introduced myself. On each of these ten days I would walk the forest trail and at the end Jack would always be there. His back would always be turned to me as he faced the cliffs and he would only turn around when he heard my foot falls. When he'd see me he always smiled and greeted me. At the start we would sit down at the cliffs and talk but soon we found ourselves wanting to talk more and so he would accompany me back to my cottage and we would talk as I warmed up. Slowly we fell into this routine and it made me happy.

I still thought about father daily and I wondered about how he was doing. Was he okay? Did he miss me? Were his guards keeping him company and caring for him properly? I hoped that they were. I missed Father a lot but not enough to go back just yet. I was having too much fun with Jack. He made life interesting as I explored and gained new experiences. Above all he was very patient with me. I explained early on that I had extremely little world knowledge and he promised that he would show me the world one day.

But for today he was going to show me how to skate. With the skates that I had acquired from a store in town while I was gathering supplies. I was all set to go. In this time, I had given Jack a house key yesterday so that he could come in and out as he pleased and boy was it a mistake. I woke up to someone saying my name softly and a cold hand shaking my shoulder. I immediately woke up but instead of bothering to open my eyes, I groaned and rolled over so that my back was facing him. I was glad that I cleaned up the room yesterday and hid my weapons in the drawers in the dresser otherwise Jack would have been in for a surprise.

"Oh no you don't," said Jack as he tried to take the blankets away from me but I held on. I heard him huff and let go of the blankets. I felt the bed dip as Jack sat down on the edge and I attempted to fall back to sleep. Just as the darkness was about to pull me in Jack shook my shoulder, "Scarlett, come on, don't go back to sleep."

I groaned again and took Jack's hand from where it was shaking my shoulder and pulled on it so that Jack fell forward and I held his arm close to me so that he couldn't shake me anymore. I heard Jack chuckle before I felt him lie down behind me. I smiled triumphantly in my half awake state and turned around to face him. I didn't even look at his face as I immediately cuddled against my best friend chest and sighed happily as I took in his calming scent. Jack chuckled again and threw his arm over my waist while whispering in my ear, "Just a couple of minutes, okay?"

I nodded and let myself fall back into its unconscious state. Fortunately for me, a couple of minutes ended up becoming a couple of hours because Jack had fallen asleep. I woke up with a smile on my face as I looked up at Jack's peaceful face. Carefully, I slipped out of bed and to the bath room. I quickly put in my contacts and gave my face a quick wash as well. Silently I crept back into bed and as I settled, I reached up a hand and moved a bit of hair that had fallen in his face. He stirred and pulled me closer to him before opening his eyes and smiling down at me.

"Good morning," I said softly, a soft smile gracing my features.

Jack smiled down at me as well, "Good morning."

"Sleep well?" I asked.

"Ya and you?"

"The best sleep I've had in decades," I responded truthfully as Jack smiled wider which then morphed into his regular smirk.

"Did Sandy bring you any dreams?" he asked.

"He did," I smiled as I fondly remembered the dream he had given me.

"What dream did he give you?" he asked as he shifted his weight to become more comfortable and bringing his face closer to mine as he did so.

I smirked despite the light blush that had arisen on my cheeks, "He gave me a dream about me kicking your butt in a snowball fight."

"Well he was spot on then, wasn't he?" said Jack with his own smirk. I narrowed my eyes at the boy, what was he thinking?

"What do you mean?" I asked causing his smirk to grow.

"The only way anyone could beat me in a snowball fight is in their dreams," he said smugly. I gasped and playfully hit his arm.

"I could totally beat you in a snowball fight," I said.

"Are you challenging me, newbie?" asked Jack and I fought off the groan that sprung up in my throat at the nickname. For the past couple days he had taken to calling me Newbie because I told him that I didn't know what sunset looked like until two weeks ago.

I rolled my eyes at the boy, "Challenge for you maybe but a cake walk for me."

Jack scoffed, "Do you even know how to make a snowball?"

"Sure I do! You take the snow and it, you know," Jack began laughing and I huffed, "Hey! Just because I've never made one doesn't mean that I can figure it out."

Jack laughter slowly stopped and he stood up, "Grab your skates and your mittens, we're gonna have some fun."

The mischievous look in his eye was almost enough to get me to back out, but instead I kick him out of the bedroom so that I could change. I emerged from my room wearing a pair of black pants and a green baggy long-sleeved shirt. Jack was waiting for me in the living room and I quickly put on my snow pants and large winter jacket. I slipped on my hat and put on my boots. Jack came over from inspecting the pages I had spread on the table that was next to the picture of the ocean. I planned on going there some day and when I would be ready to leave here, I would know where to go. I put on my jacket as I said, "Ready to go?"

He smirked and said, "I've been waiting on you, Newbie."

I groaned at the sound of the stupid nickname and grabbed the cool metal of the door handle. I swung the door open to reveal the very cold and beautiful arctic tundra. I put on my mittens and grabbed the skates which I had left beside the door. I smiled and motioned for Jack to exit the house first, which he did without a moment's hesitation. I still couldn't believe how he could come out here without shoes on. I was raised in a relatively cold and dark lit location so I was use to the cold for the most part, but the cold up here was simply ridiculous. I looked up at the sky momentarily and remembered how I stayed up most of the night looking at the aurora Borealis. My smile wavered as I walked right into Jack's chest.

"I'm sorry," I apologized quickly which Jack chuckled.

"First thing's, first," said Jack, "I'm going to show you how to make a snow ball."

I dropped my skates onto the snow without a moments thought and smiled.

"Okay," said Jack, " First you take some snow."

I bent down and took a small amount of snow, close to about half of a hand full. Jack laughed, "you're gonna need a bit more than that."

I perched my lips together and bent down to get more snow and showed him the amount I had accumulated, "This good?"

"Perfect," he said with his dazzling smile. He moved his hands on top of mine and pushed them down saying, "then you compress the snow and there you have it."

I smiled widely as he took away his hands and I removed one of mine to examine my very first snowball. I laughed and looked at it then I looked up at Jack and smirked devilishly.

Jack looked confused for a moment, "Scarlett? What are you thin-"

I cut him off as I laughed and chucked the snowball at him. It exploded on his chest and for a moment he looked stunned before laughing. I laughed and ran into the forest with Jack hot on my heels. I bent down to pick up some snow, all the while never slowing. I felt something cold hit my back and laughed as I turned around sharply to face Jack and through my snow ball at him. He easily dodged it and laughed as it watched it explode as it hit a tree. I ran behind a tree for cover from the frosted boy to pick up some snow. pocking out from my cover, I pulled my arm back, ready to throw my snow ball at the boy but he wasn't there anymore. I scanned the area, confused, when suddenly a snow ball hit the back of my head causing some of the snow to fall down my jacket.

I heard a laugh and turned around to see Jack standing not ten feet away. I laughed and threw my snowball at him. He dodged it again and I laughed as I picked up more snow and threw it at him, hitting his arm.

"I'm hit! I'm hit!" yelled Jack as he dramatically fell on to the snow. I jogged over to Jack and lay down beside him as I attempted to catch my breath.

"Does this mean I win?" I asked between pants, a wide smile on my face. I turned my head to watch my best friend as he sprung up immediately and gasped as he took a pile of snow and threw it at me tiredly.

"No way!" he said. I laughed and whipped away the cold snow. I would have retaliated but I was far too tired from all the running. Jack chuckled as I whipped away the last of the snow, "give up?"

"Never," I said weakly, causing Jack to laugh again and how I loved the sound.

"Oh really?" said Jack and he looked like he was ready for another attack when I noticed the northern lights had sprung out but they shouldn't have been out. Somehow the lights looked different from the ones I had seen last night and Jack cursed, then stood.

"Sorry, Scar. I gotta go," said Jack as he suddenly turned serious, but never looking away from the lights until he held out his hand to help me up. I took the hand that he offered as my eyebrows came together in confusion.

"Why so suddenly?" I asked as he led me back to the cottage with one arm slung lazily over my shoulders. We hadn't gotten very far out.

"The lights. The Guardians are calling. We'll go skating tomorrow, okay?" he asked and I felt my eyes widen in momentary fear at his second statement. It took all that I had in me not to shove him away from me and run away. He was friends with the guardians? The ones Father always warned me about for almost the entirety of my life?

"Okay," I said in a small voice and with the same small voice I asked, "Are you a guardian too?"

To my absolute horror, Jack nodded happily and luckily he didn't notice my breath hitch and the fear that I'm certain was painted on my face. My breath felt caught in my throat. All this time was he just being nice so he could take me away? Sell me out to those people so they could attack my father? I nervously swallowed the lump in my throat and looked down at my feet as we reached the cottage. I immediately detached myself from Jack and tried to act normal. My palms became sweaty as I wished him safe travel in what I hoped sounded normal despite the deceit that I never was coming out of my mouth. I had to leave, everything was screaming at me to turn and run. I held my ground even as he took a step towards me and took a hold of my hand and gave me his sickly sweet smile. I wanted to throw up, he was the enemy and I thought he was my friend. Was it all a lie?

"I'll see you soon," he said as he gave my hand a squeeze.

I looked him in the eye and forced a small smile saying, "Be safe."

"I will," he smiled once more and kissed my cheek before taking off to the sky. I lifted a hand to my cheek momentarily awe-struck before my rational brain caught up with me. I breathed heavily and stumbled over to the door and fumbled with the handle as my hands shook. I had to get away before he came back.

**a/n: you guys have no idea how many notes I've taken to write this story. Seriously it doesn't stop. Ahhhhhh downing in a sea of papers! Some one help me. And sister if ur reading this, why did you leave before u helped me some my chapter eight issues... Whyyyyy? And finally I've changed my schedule for the next little while. Chapters will now be coming out every four days instead of thee. Thats all. Thank you for reading and favouriting and everything :) J.H.**


	9. Chapter 8 United States of America

Chapter 8: United States of America

I can't believe it. The first person I meet, the first person I trust and he's a guardian. Typical. I guess he must have been new because he wasn't like any of the guardians father described to me. For once, I'm actually happy that father gave that advise. I missed Father and I wanted to see him, but maybe if I'm able to successfully escape from Jack then maybe father can see my potential. I sighed, my anger slowly bubbling from behind the fear I felt just moments ago. I had packed my things up in a matter of minutes and I sighed again as I stood in the living room taking in one final look. I was going to miss this place and I knew that I could never come back for fear of the guardians.

Against my better judgement, I walked back into the kitchen and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. I knew that I shouldn't be doing this but Jack was my first friend, even if he did with hold the truth from me. I was so mad! How could he have not told me? Was it a set up? Were they going to take me away? No! That was not happening. I have just begun living, not the crap that I was doing before. I'm not going back to hiding.

So then what was I doing? This isn't hiding, it was running away to seek protection. There was a difference, right? I groaned, annoyed at how my thoughts couldn't seem to settle and instead I began writing the note to Jack. I planned out the words carefully and explained in as many nice words as I could must why I had left. I felt like my mind was ripping itself in two. One side arguing about how Jack was a no good liar who was going to hurt me and the other side that felt bad about leaving and argued that it was all a big misunderstanding. I sighed and read over my note for any last second edits.

**'Dear Jack, **

**I'm sorry about leaving suddenly, but I had some business to take care of. Things have become complicated and unfortunately I won't ever be coming back. Thank you for everything,**

**Scarlett B**.'

I noticed my mistake of adding the "B" at the end of my name and scratched it out quickly. I folded the note carefully and left it on the kitchen table. Taking a final glance, I looked around my home and seeing my set of keys placed next to the note, I turned and left the cottage. I walked briskly down the road that led into town. I entered the restaurants that started it all and noticed a couple on their way out. I followed then into their car and rode with them until they stopped a few towns over.

I continued traveling with people in their cars, bored out of my mind for the most part but other wise it was bringing me away from potential danger and I was therefore okay with it. But why Jack? Of all the people in the world, why him? Why did he have to be a chosen one? All I ever wanted was a friend and now I find out that he could have been using me. I just couldn't believe it. I didn't know what to feel at this point. Should I be mad, because i mean, he could have betrayed me? Should I be sad because I left him? Should I be relieved because I knew that by leaving I would be safe again?

I travelled all day and all night, going into different towns as I crossed Canada before I finally found an airport. The jet flew quickly but not fast enough to leave my thoughts behind as they kept coming. I missed Jack. It had only been a couple of days since I found out that he was a guardian but still, it worried me. Was he actually bad? Was he good? Did he miss me as much as I missed him? Was he looking for me? If he was, was it to take me away or to continue being my friend? I sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that day. I missed Jack.

The plane landed in another airport and as soon as I arrived, I hopped in another one. I didn't care where it was taking me. It was only when I exited the plane in Miami, florida that I knew what I wanted to do. I found a bathroom and despite being invisible I still felt self-conscious about changing in the middle of a public place. I changed into my tan shorts, a deep green t-shirt and my black boots that I had when I started this journey. I finally got out of the airport and my eyes widened at the sights around me. Everything was so bright and hot. It was really weird in a way. I road with a man in his car as he drove somewhere and I took in the sights of the city.

It was huge! The buildings stood tall and proud reaching far into the sky. All around people were walking around and I felt the heat of the sun beating down on me. Smells from cafes and the sea filled the air and I attempted to make my way around town. The sights were wonderful and the sky was the clearest blue I had ever seen and it reminded me of Jack's eyes. Jack. There he is again, clogging my thoughts with a lasting guilt and subconsciously I lifted a hand to my cheek. I sighed but continued on my way.

The car stopped at a light and I decided to get out And explore by myself. I walked around the city for a while, never getting bored but I did long for a companion to share this amazing experience with. The heat was also starting to become unbearable and I'd only been outside for a couple of hours. I could feel my skin roasting when I stepped into the quick fading sunlight. I stuck relatively close to the shadows until I caught a glimpse of it. The rolling blue waters of the ocean. I felt giddy and my stomach did little happy flips as I carefully made my way towards where I had seen the blue waters. The pavement from the side-walk soon disappeared as sand replaced the hard surface. I smiled widely and took a deep, happy breath as I bent over and removed my boots.

The sand was very different from what I expected it to be. In all of the books that I've read about the sea it always talked about the sand being either warm or soft but I was still skeptical. I have never been more wrong. The sand was pleasingly soft and combined with the warmth it had accumulated due to the sun, it was very soothing. I felt myself relax considerably and I chose that moment to finally look up.

In front of me sunset was about to start and the sea with its roaring waves and soft breezes were continuing in their rhythmic pace. I was awe-struck and I absorbed the sight that had been deprived from me for so long. I couldn't believe it. Before me was the sea and it was wonderful and like my first sunset, it was much better than I expected. I let out a happy little laughed and smiled widely.

I don't know how it happened but one moment I was at the entrance to the beach and in the next I was standing so close to the water that it came so close to touching me. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't terrified of touching the waters. I had read that the sea water was cold and in most cases refreshing but I had already experience such great things today that I didn't want to risk it. I mean, what if the ocean was unpleasant? Did it feel different from normal water because of the salt concentration in it? I just didn't want to be disappointed. What if after all this time, it wasn't what I thought it was?

I took a deep breath and gathering my courage I stepped onto the wet sand and let the cold water touch my feet. The last of the sunlight faded away as the cool waters lapped at my feet. It was amazing. I stared at my pale bare feet with the clear water washing over them then to the never-ending blue water. I smiled peacefully and walked out into the water until it reached my knees. The cold water soothed the red-hot skin that I had acquired through the day. I sighed as I finally registered how sore my skin felt. All of the exposed skin on my arms and legs, as well as I assumed my face felt strange and they were a light red colour. I had clear lines from where my cloths and shoes stopped the sun from beating down on me. For a moment I forgot about Jack and Father and focused solely on me. I was hurting both physically and emotionally. My skin hurt and I wanted to be back home with Jack.

The night was approaching faster than I anticipated and wearily I left the ocean. I sighed when I remembered that I didn't have any place to stay and in the distance I noticed that clouds were starting to form and blocking my very limited view of the stars. I left the beach to go find shelter and instead I wondered the beach boulevard in search of really anything that could serve as a house for a night. Large illuminated signs lined wither side of the street and It wasn't long before I came upon one called **The holiday inn**. I smiled and walked into the hotel. The large automatic doors opened as I followed a couple into the main lobby. They began to talk to the woman behind a counter and I simply waited as the couple got a room called the penthouse. I followed them into a small room with buttons on one side of the sliding doors.

The room budged and I momentarily lost my balance. I looked around with fright. What was this thing? I tried to open the sliding doors but they wouldn't budge. The room shook again and I almost fell backwards but I caught myself and the doors slid open. The couple left the room, taking their things with them. Fightened, I followed them and stumbled out of the horrid room before the doors closed. I took in deep breaths as I tried to push the fear away. That room was like a miniature death zone and I never, ever wanted to enter it again!

I followed the couple and they shared a quick kiss, to which I smiled happily, and they opened the door to reveal a huge living room. I enter the room after them and shared in the woman's delight at the amazing view of the ocean. She kiss the man that she was with again and I began exploring. I had read about pent houses before but I had never imagined that they would be this luxurious. The pent house was much larger than the small and homey cottage I had out in Canada and although it was beautiful, I missed that home like quality of the cottage. I was grateful however, that I had a place to stay as it began to rain. I sighed and settled down on one of the couches that faced the full length windows revealing the oceans strong waves. I noted vaguely that the couple had moved to the bedroom but continued looking at the outdoors as the rain beat down on the windows and I took my bag off my back and set it down.

I laughed sadly as I noticed the pathetic fallacy as the weather adapted my mood. I let myself relaxed as I took in the recent events of my adventure so far. I still had a guilty feeling in my gut at leaving father and I missed him. I also missed Jack even though he was a guardian, one of the man in the moon's chosen ones. My body was sore from sleeping on the airplane and from the sun. Gingerly, I looked down at the light red skin and racked my mind for what this skin issue was called. I know that i had read about it in the medical books and survival book father had gotten me but I simply could not remember what it was called.

I liked the sun but the heat was too intense here. I might stay for a couple more days but the heat was too much. My body was enough proof of that. I sighed as I layed down on the couch as I continued looking out the window and closed my eyes. A clap of thunder immediately sent them wide open again. I was breathing hard and trying to calm my racing heart. No I did not like the weather in Miami. I saw a pair of yellow eyes moving in the distance from the beach below. A black and noble body accompanied the eyes.

**a/n: schools been hard on me lately therefore hunter will be updated every 4 days in stead of three until further notice. That is all. Thank you to readers, etc for everything. -J.H.**


	10. Chapter 9: Scotland

Chapter 9: Scotland

Oh, no! Not again. I cursed at my luck. Of course this would happen. I watched as the guard ran down the beach and out of sight. No doubt it would be back again soon. I had to move. I took my stuff from the ground and swung it over my shoulder. Carefully, I exited the pent house and used the stairs to get back to the lobby because I was not going back into that metal death trap. I came down in time to hear a person call, "Shuttle to the airport leaves in five minutes."

I followed the man who had said it to a bus and took one of the back seats. There were a few more passengers on here as well but I paid them no mind as I slipped on my hat and sun glasses from all those weeks ago. In my mind I wondered, could it have only been three weeks that I had gotten out? It certainly didn't feel like it. I sighed and kept my head low incase the guard came our way. Luckily for me, the bus soon arrived at the airport. I exited with the passengers and occasionally walked through a person to get to where I needed to be. I hopped on a plane that was going to england and slept on the way there.

By the time I had arrived in England I noticed how sore I really was and for the first time, I think ever, I felt the pain that came with movement. I now understood what the characters in stories meant when they said that being sunburnt hurt. Hey that's what it was called a sun burn! I exited the plane and immediately got onto another one going to Scotland. The flight wasn't as long as the one to England(obviously) but that didn't make it any less boring.

I thought about Jack for most of the flight and how much I missed him. I missed his jokes that he would make and his stories that he would tell. I missed his scent, which I often found lingered on my clothes. I missed his mischievous personality and his beautifully crooked smile. I missed him. I wanted to talk to him more and find out who he was. That was it! I needed to go to a library. Then I could see if they knew anything about Jack or the guardians!

When we got off the plane I hitched a ride with a family of four and they drove for about an hour. I was happy that it was significantly colder here as oppose to in Miami and along the car ride I noticed a library. I smiled sinisterly and made a mental map of what roads we took as we continued driving. The family pulled into a driveway not long after and I scrambled out of the car. I left the family with out another thought and continued trekking on with my goal of finding out who Jack Frost was exactly fueling my every move.

The walk to the library didn't take as long as I thought and I immediately set myself to work. This library was considerably large with row upon row of books. I stood in shock at the front doors and allowed myself to take it all in. I took a deep breath in and marveled at the smell of worn and musty books. I found myself wondering if I had died and gone to heaven or Valhalla or whatever people believed in. I smiled a smile that was so large that it began hurting my cheeks and I ran up to the closest book shelf.

I ran my fingers over the smooth spines that kept the pages of the book together and sighed contently. I began my search for Jack in the non fiction section of the library but I came upon absolutely nothing. I searched for hours until I was absolutely certain that I had checked all of the books that could give me even the slightest clue as to whom Jack really was and who the guardians were.

I began to grow impatient as my search began taking up the better portion of three and a half(as noted by the clock on the wall). I took a seat in the children's section, setting my bag down but keeping my axe attached to my hip and rubbed my temples in an attempt to get myself to calm down. How did father ever manage to find the books that I was asking of him to get when it comes to this stupid building? I huffed and let my hands slide down my face slowly and end up on my lap. I looked up at a brightly coloured book on the shelf opposite me. The colours werent the only thing to catch my attention but the words written on the cover; **The Guardians of Childhood**.

I knew that it was a long shot but I crossed the room and picked up the book regardless. On the cover were four people and a man in the moon who was smiling. My eyes narrowed on the figures. They held most of the descriptions father had given me about the chosen ones; The man with white hair and a white beard, the woman who looks partially like a bird, the small man who seemed to be made of golden sand and the large rabbit. Could this be the legitimate guardians. I opened the book and began reading. It took a while but I learned a considerable amount of information and I do believe that these were the chosen ones.

As I read I noticed that the stories seemed a bit far-fetched and I figured that they were simply exaggerated. I was able to pull out some information about the man in the moon's chosen ones and the way they seemed to behave. Part of the way through the story about the guardian named North the librarian turned off the lights and left the library. I sighed angrily and turned back on a couple of lights so I could keep reading. I grew bored with the stories as they were introducing the main villain from these seemingly fairy tale stories. That villain being called the nightmare king. They never called this so-called nightmare king by any other name as far as I could tell and I sighed turning to the back of the book.

"Stay tooned for the newest story from the Guardians of Childhood as they introduce their newest guardian, Jack Frost." I read out loud. I sighed wearily and rested my head on one my hands. I couldn't believe it. Jack really was a guardian but from the looks of these stories the guardians were fighting the bad guys. I sighed again and closed the book, noticing that the temperature in the library had dropped considerably. It was almost as if Jack was in the room.

A chuckle sounded from behind me, "If you wanted to know about the guardians you could have just asked you know."

I stood and pulled out my axe, knowing that I might need to defend myself. I knew that Jack was a guardian and from the books I was able to see that they all had weapons that they could use. Since Jack is a guardian that must mean that he is really powerful as well. I faced the boy and noticed his shocked expression which probably mirrored mine. I was terrified. How did he find me so quickly? despite my hurting skin from the sun burn, I readied myself to fight.

"How did you find me?" I asked in a dangerous tone.

"Whoa, hey, whats gotten into you?" He said as he raised his hands in the air in surrender.

"Answer the question Guardian," I demanded coldly as I brought my arm back, ready to attack. I didn't want to act so aggressively towards Jack but he was a guardian and I had to show that if he was going to take me away it wouldn't be without a fight.

"I came looking for you after you left so suddenly."

"I said I had business to attend to," I snapped.

"You also said that you weren't coming back. I wanted to know why," said Jack. I could tell from his body language that practically mimicked my father's that he was getting angry.

"We all want answers but sometimes you have to wait to get them," I said feeling my anger grow as well. Jack's face twisted in a mixture of different emotions.

"You left me! I deserve answers!" yelled Jack as he took a threatening step towards me. I took a step back subconsciously.

I felt my anger well up in me and before I could stop myself I yelled back, "You want answers? Fine! I left because if I didn't I'd have had to kill you!"

The words flew out of my mouth and upon realising what I had done, I clapped a hand over my mouth to stop myself. A tense silence filled the room. Jack was looking down at the floor and I took a step away from him. I had to leave. Jack looked up at me after I had taken a couple of steps away from him with my hand firmly clapped over my mouth and my eyes bulging in shock.

"Kill me?" he asked softly and hesitantly I nodded, dropping my hand from my mouth as I did so. My mind was going a mile a minute as I attempted to think rationally about this situation. What was he thinking? Was he going to hurt me? Tell the other guardians? I was scared. Jack gave me a pleading look that made me want to melt into a puddle of tears, "Why?"

"You're a guardian. It's either me or you, right?"

"Why would one of us have to go because I'm a guardian?" asked Jack.

"It's just that. The guardians, well, lets just say that if they knew me, things would happen and I don't want that."

"Things?"

"Can't we just leave it at that?" I all but begged him.

"No, I want answers," he said stubbornly and I felt my anger pick up again.

"Ya, well so do I but we can't both get what we want."

"Oh ya, and what do you want to know?" he said through grit teeth.

Before I could stop myself again, I spoke out, "I want to know that you won't hurt me!"

The desperation was back and once again I felt weak because of it. I wanted to leave. To turn and run and forget about all of this. I am making a fool of myself and the Black name. When I finally looked up at Jack again he had a look of shock etched on to his features. They seemed to soften after a moment as he said, "Scarlett, I promise that I'll never hurt you. You have to believe me."

"What about the rest of the guardians? Just because you said it doesn't mean that they won't hurt me instead," I wanted desperately for my mouth to okay but words kept seeming to come out on their own.

"I'll prove it to you that me and the other guardians mean you no harm." he paused, giving me time for his words to sink in. He took a couple steps towards me and I kept my ground. He looked down at the floor then back up at me, "Will you come home?"

I thought it over quickly and a small smile graced my lips. Jack was my best friend, regardless of whether or not he is a guardian and so like that first time that I met him out in the woods, I let my hand leave my axe, placing it away this time and entwined my hand with his. Mutual trust radiating from both of us and taking us back where we first started.

**A/N: hey guys so in this story you might have been able to tell but I've changed my style a bit and its a bit different from what I had done in jack and Juliet and I wanted to know what you guys think. if you could let me know via your choice of communication it'd be awesome. Also sorry this came out several hours later than usual, i got caught up playin with some kids. :D Thank you all so much for everything( reading, favouriting, etc.) -Juliet H.**


	11. Chapter 10 Trust Me

Chapter 10: Trust me

It took some time to get back to Canada and back home. Mainly it was because I insisted to take airplanes back home. Jack argued that it would be faster if he just carried me back home but despite the trust that I was beginning to feel for him again, I wasn't ready to take part in flying where I had no control. Besides he was still a guardian and regardless of the words of assurance on my safety, it made it hard for me to see him in the same light. So we took five flights and hitched several rides with people before finally arriving back home. During the plane and car rides, Jack and I slept quite a bit to pass the time but every time we woke up, we were somehow tangled up together. It varied each time we woke up. Sometimes we'd wake up cuddling and other times it was just our hands that were keeping us entwined. By the time we got home we were use to it and it no longer came as a shock.

I smiled and took in the cottage. It hadn't changed in the week that I had gone by. My sunburn had finally faded into a golden brown tan. I thought it looked awful. My hair didn't help with complementing the change in skin pigment and I wanted to go back to my lovely shade of pasty verging on appealingly sickly white. My hair has also grown out a bit and my auburn roots were beginning to show. Luckily, Jack hasn't noticed yet and at the same time, he has yet to see my steel-yellow eyes because I always waited for him to fall asleep to take the contacts out and for some reason I always woke up just before him, which allowed me to put them in.

It's been just over a month since the day that I left the Lair. I missed Father badly but I still felt that the world had more to show me so I wasn't about to head back just yet. I smiled as we entered the cottage via Jack's key. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea that I gave him the key after all. The inside of the house looked the exact same as I had left it all those weeks ago and I smiled. Jack put a hand carefully on the small of my back with a chuckle and lead me from standing in the door way to the inside of the house. I smiled softly. I had missed this place.

I set my stuff down on one of the seats in the living room but kept my axe on me. No point in hiding it now that Jack knew that I had it. He didn't know about the knives yet and I planned on keeping that little detail to myself until such a time that I had to use them. I took a seat on the soft couch and sighed as I looked out the large window. Jack sat down beside me silently. Neither of us have really spoken since Jack found me back in Scotland. I think it was because there was a mutual feeling of tenseness and fight. One wrong word and the other would be off. I hated it. I just wanted things to be back to normal already.

"It not my fault you know," I said, breaking the silence. I didn't bother to look at Jack and continued looking out the window to the outdoors.

"What isn't your fault?" came Jack's confused reply.

"My hatred and fear of the guardians. It's not my fault," I said. I felt Jack move beside me. I think he had turned to face me but I continued looking out the window.

"Why do you fear us?"

"Father is all I've ever known up until I left. I never questioned anything that he has told me. Not once. He has told me on multiple occasions that my center must be loyalty because of it."

"And is it?"

"I don't know," I responded, "but regardless, for as long as I can remember Father has been telling me the same thing over and over and over again."

Jack stayed quiet. I assumed it was because he wanted me to continue so as I continued watching the falling snow I did, "He always said, 'Scarlett, I want you to remember these four things should anything happen. First, if you see a large man with a white beard and white hair who can see me as well, run. Run and never look back. Second, if you see a woman who looks like a bird, no matter the size, kill on sight. Third, if you see a small man-made of golden sand, make no noise, run away and what ever I do, never touch the golden sand. Finally, if I see a large rabbit who can talk, kill on sight. No exceptions. These are the guardians and they will hurt you, Scarlett.'"

I looked down at my hands which rested neatly on my lap before looking up at Jack. Shock covered his features and he remained silent. I gave him time to digest the information that I had provided, knowing that it probably goes against everything he has probably been taught. I looked down at my hands again and spoke, "This is why I ran away. You are a guardian and although your description isn't mentioned, I assume that I would follow the directions provided for the other guardians."

Jack sat there for several moments more and I continued staring at my hands. This information is all I've ever known and I wasn't sure how he'd take it. I wasn't sure how to feel about this information. What if the guardians were good? I'd never really questioned father before but what if we were wrong? Jack shifted on the couch and I looked up at him. His eyes were soft as he slid closer to me and rested an arm around my shoulder, bringing me closer to him. I allowed my stiff posture to relax as I drew in a deep breath and relaxing against his strong frame. I felt him take in a breath as well, "Scarlett, who is your father?"

His voice was soft and I looked down at my hands again. I responded wearily, "I can't tell you."

"Why?"

I sighed. I was tired. Tired of the questions. Tired of my father controlling my entire life and I was just plain sleepy. I faced him and the desperation that covered my face was painful blow to my pride, "Can I tell you another day?"

Jack looked me in the eye and I watched him. His beautiful blue eyes searched my face and stopped when they reached my eyes again. He gave a nod and a small smile graced my features. Another thing that I was tired of was being scared of Jack. After all he wasn't, or I hoped he wasn't, judging me based off of my parentage and therefore I shouldn't judge him because of his, um, occupation.

"Jack?" I asked. He hummed in acknowledgement, allowing me to continue, "Can you promise me something?"

"What is it Scarlett?"

"Promise that regardless of being a guardian that you'll still just be Jack. No work at home and I promise to leave my Father's bias out of things as much as I can. Sound fair?" I asked nervously as I toyed with one of his hands.

He took his hand away from mine for a moment to raise it up to cup my cheek and I looked up at him. He was so close to my face and I felt a heat rush to my cheeks despite the seriousness of the question, "Scarlett, I promise."

I nodded and smiled, then threw my arms around his neck in a tight hug. I knew I was safe. Jack was my best friend and I had him back. He wouldn't hurt me and I knew he would keep his word. It felt good to simply sit there in my home holding him tightly and being held with the same amount of force. We broke away from each other slowly.

"So what now?" I asked after a moment of silence.

"Now," said Jack, "We have fun."

Jack leapt off the couch and grabbed my hand.

"Fun?" I said in all of the hurried confusion. A jacket was thrown in my face which I attempted to put on as Jack dragged me out the door. Jack refused to let go of my hand and just as we were about to enter the forest he stopped suddenly and turned to face me. He was grinning from ear to ear, "Do you trust me?"

I had one sleeve in my jacket and I looked up when I almost bumped into him, "What?"

"Do you trust me?" He asked again, leaning in closer. His face dangerously close to mine. I felt flustered and simply nodded. It was true though. I did trust him. Jack's grin widened as he let go of my hand only to wrap it around my waist, flushing my body against his and suddenly, my feet weren't touching the ground.

The cold air nipped at exposed skin and tousled my clothes as we flew. My arms wrapped around Jack's neck instinctively and I buried my face in the crook of his neck. Subconsciously, I smiled as his scent filled my nostrils. I felt and heard Jack as he whooped loudly and it filled me with courage. I carefully loosened my hold on Jack but only enough so I could peek out at the ground hundreds of feet beneath us. I marveled at the view, it was even better than the ones provided at the cliffs and it was breath-taking.

I settled back into Jack, letting my head rest comfortably against his chest. Jack laughed and I looked up at him curiously. He was watching me with amused eyes. I noted vaguely that we had stopped moving when he spoke, "Are you ready?"

"For what?" I asked.

"For the free fall."

"Free fall?!" I yelled as Jack and I suddenly began falling.

"JACK!" I yelled as I clung to him. I vaguely heard his laughter as we plummeted towards the ground. We stopped suddenly and I opened an eye cautiously. My toes gently touched the ground before I was standing on back my feet. I loosened my grip from around his neck enough so that they could rest there comfortably without Jack having to bend down or me having to stand on my toes. Up until now I had never really noticed the hight difference between Jack and I. I mean, I knew that he was taller than me, that was a given, but I never notice how much taller he was. Only a few inches really, five or six at most but it was still a considerable amount.

A laugh escaped my lips suddenly as the adrenaline that was pumping in my veins took effect. The free fall had been terrifying and fun all at once and as I gazed up at Jack, I now understood how fun flying could be and the fear aided in making it even better. I laughed once more before speaking, "We are defiantly flying again."

Jack smirked and I smiled up at him. Finally, I detached myself from him and looked around. We were standing in the middle of a frozen pond surrounded by forest. The snow made it seem like a perfect winter wonderland. A light breeze blew from the north and I quickly put my arm in the other sleeve and zipped the jacket up.

"Jack," I breathed, "this place is beautiful."

"Glad that you like it," he said with a smirk, he paused for a second, looking around before his eyes landed on me again. His smirk grew and he averted his eyes to look at his staff for a moment. I laughed upon realising what he had done and reached up to grab the pair of skates that had been hastily tied to the hook. I felt Jack's eyes on me as I tried to untangle the skates from his staff but I didn't mind. I had to stand on my toes to try to get the skates free because the staff was not only taller than me but taller than Jack, therefore, the skates were dangling high above me.

Finally, I got them got them down from the staff and I looked over at Jack with a triumphant smile, "What are these for?"

"We're gonna start where we left off. I'm gonna teach you how to skate," he said excitedly.


	12. Chapter 11: Skating and Visitors

Chapter 11: Skating and Visitors

"We're gonna start where we left off. I'm gonna teach you how to skate," he said excitedly. I smiled widely and with Jack's help, I was able to put on my skates. I stood on shaky legs and held on to Jack for support. Carefully, he began walking on the ice while I held on so that I could get a feel of how to balance and how the ice moved under us. I smiled as I held on to his refreshingly cold hands for support. I really did like having him around.

He held on to my hands as he instructed me on how to properly push myself off the ice and move around. I was a bit shaky at first and as I slowly got the hang of it and he would give little pointers like "bend your knees more," or "sit back more, your leaning forward to much,". I fell a couple of times but Jack was always there to catch me. His patience was extraordinary seeing as I was certain we had been here for an hour or so and I had yet to let him go and skate by myself. His hands were warm by now from holding mine for so long but I didn't mind. I smiled up at him, taking in his features and his eyes. They were beautiful and the shade of blue was incredib-

A bump on the ice startled me and caused me to lose my balance. I quickly tried to regain it and Jack helped me out with a chuckle. One of his hands had moved from my own and had wrapped itself to my lower back to keep me from falling backwards. My free hand had moved in its panic to the material of his hoodie, scrunching it in my fist as I grabbed a hand full of the soft material while the other tightened its grip around his. I could feel Jack's breath on my cheeks because of our close proximity. I moved my gaze from my leather clad feet and up to look at him when I had regained my full balance and a nervous chuckle escaped my lips as I carefully smoothed the wrinkles in Jack's hoodie caused when I had grabbed it. My eyes moved up further and finally locked with his.

He was staring at me with a fondness upon his features that made me wonder what he was thinking about. His eyes began moving, searching my face and seemed to take in every detail. My hand that was not occupied by his own began moving on its own accord and gently moved some of the hair that had fallen out of place and hidden his eyes, my fingers lightly brushing against the cold skin of his face. The white locks were silky smooth and I felt my breath get caught in my throat from how stunning he truly was. I knew that he was handsome, that was a given but in this moment with the sun slowly starting to sink and the light snow that was falling, it made him seem almost unreal. My hand moved from his hair to cup his cheek as if to be certain that Jack was actually there, not just a part of my imagination. What was I doing? I noticed that his eyes had stopped roaming and stared at my lips with what looked like a hunger. His face seemed to come closer to mine and I relaxed into his strong frame, subconsciously moving even closer to him.

Suddenly, a gun shot rang off in the distance, pulling us away from whatever had us under its spell just moments before. Blushing, I realized just how close we were and carefully I removed myself from him. I bit my lip with uncertainty and looked down at my leather clad feet again. Jack on the other hand had made a mad dash to get his staff that he left propped up against a tree as soon as I let go of him, leaving me alone in the middle of the lake. I let out a shaky breath and took in a deep breath as I tried to regain my composure. I looked up after a moment and moved my feet, pushing off on the ice like Jack showed me.

I smiled at my accomplishment. I was skating! I was doing it! I skated to the edge of the pond with some difficulty and tiredly plopped down in a snow bank. I took off the skates quickly and put my boots back on. I layed back down, staring up at the light blue sky and I knew that it was starting to get late.

"Scarlett?" called Jack. He must not have noticed that I had moved.

"Over here!" I said from where I laying. I waved an arm in the air lazily to catch his attention. I felt the wind pick up and a moment later I heard a plop from beside me. I looked over and saw Jack about a half of a foot away from me. I looked back up at the sky contently and reached my hand out to Jack. After a moment he took it and we just layed there. It was comfortable and wonderful and I couldn't dream of being anywhere else or wanting to be with anyone other than Jack.

I turned my head to look at the white-haired boy and found that he was watching me as well. I smiled softly and so did he. I took a moment to really observe him. His blue eyes were filled with excitement and his thin pale lips were pulled up into a smile. His hair blended in with the snow and his skin, I notice, was so pale that if it was any whiter it would have blended in with the snow as well. He really was the embodiment of winter and it was incredible. A thought tugged at my mind as I inspected him.

I knew that the people who are born under the man in the moon first had to die in order to take over their position as one of his. What kind of fate did the lovely boy have and at such a young age that resulted in his death? I must have done something to indicate the nature of my thoughts, whether it was my hand squeezing his or the look on my face, I wouldn't know but Jack spoke, pulling me from the thoughts.

"Penny for your thoughts?" He said with his signature smirk. I chuckled before looking down at our hands seeing the difference in our pigments, my light tan and his ghost white.

"How did you die?" I asked quietly. And there goes the peaceful and calming mood.

"Where did that come from?" He asked. I continued looking at our interlocked hands as I shrugged.

"I don't know. Curious, I guess," I responded. After a moment's silence I moved to stand up and when I did, I noticed that the aurora borealis was shining its colours across the sky. My face fell into a scowl as I remembered the last time this happened. The pale boy was standing beside me in an instant.

"Not again," Jack moaned. I tilted my head as a curiosity was perked at his response to the guardians call.

"You don't want to see them?" I asked with a playful smirk. It was a failed attempt at lightening the mood.

"I saw them last week, isn't that enough?" He moaned and visibly slumped with annoyance.

I chuckled, "Can I get a lift back home before you go?"

"I want you to meet them," he said with a giant grin plastered on his face.

"Jack, I just got over you being a guardian. I don't think I can handle meeting the others just yet," I said truthfully. Jack's smile fell and I could feel the guilt rising in my stomach. Hastily I said, "But maybe on another day. Is that okay?"

Jack's smile came back as he said, "That's perfect."

I smiled and grabbed the skates and Jack held out the hooked end of his staff. I chuckled and attached the skates to it. When I was done Jack stood at his full hight with his staff beside him and a determined expression on his face. If the skates hadn't been tied to the staff, I'll admit it, he would have looked pretty badass. He held out his free arm to me, inviting me to come to him and gladly I did. His determined expression changed to one of a more mischievous nature as I closed the space between us. When I was finally within his reach he pulled me up against him with the arm he hand out stretched saying, "Buckle up."

Then we were rocketing into the sky at speeds I didn't know were possible. Just like the first time I had flown with him, my arms attached themselves around his neck and Jack chuckled. I had just built up my courage to look at the scenery when our flight came to an end and we touched down lightly on the porch of the cottage. I looked up at Jack, a smile plastered on my face despite his little prank. I drew my arms away from him slowly and Jack seemed to look almost sad.

My happy expression fell and I rested a hand on his cheek. Jack leaned into my touch, closing his eyes momentarily as he did so. He seemed to be deep in though, his mouth twitching every few seconds as if he wanted to say something. I questioned him with my eyes as I attempted to keep his down cast gaze. Finally he said, "Your not going to leave again right?"

I caught his gaze finally and spoke, "Never."

"So you'll be here when I come back?" he asked. I gave him a soft smile and nodded my head in confirmation.

"I promise," I said. I stood on the tips of my toes and kissed his cheek. I don't know why I did it but what I did know was that I was now a blushing mess. I felt the heat rise up into my face and I bit my lip nervously. I really did have no intent on leaving and I planed on keeping my word. Jack smiled and I took a step away from him, "I'll see you soon."

"Well, there you are Frostbite. Didn't ya see the lights?" came an unfamiliar voice. Not only did it startle me but the aggressive undertone caused me to draw my axe. Standing before Jack and I was a giant talking rabbit. A guardian. I lowered my axe but took precaution of keeping it out. I didn't trust him. Jack, I trusted because he earned it and because he had never done anything to me but this was one of the guardians I had been warned about my entire life. I promised Jack the I wouldn't let father's bias change my mind on this person and I remembered all of the information from the stories in the library. The intruder's name was Bunnymund. I watched the rabbit carefully and Jack moved into my line of sight.

"Scarlett?" Jack asked carefully. I turned my attention to him but kept the rabbit in my peripheral line of sight. Jack had a hand out in front of me, as if he were calming a beast. He took a careful step towards me saying, "Scarlett meet Bunny. He's a guardian like me."

I didn't say anything, because I was unsure of what to say. I'm going against everything I have ever been taught by not killing the creature and yet, I didn't feel guilty about it. I continued staring at the rabbit as Jack continued moving closer to me until he was able to grab my hand. Jack placed his hand over one of my own and guided it so that I had put my axe back in its holder at my hip as he said, "It's okay. Bunny's not gonna hurt you. You're gonna be just fine."

I stopped looking at the rabbit and gave Jack my full and undivided attention. I nodded and gave him a small smile as if saying, I understand. Jack smirked and turned to Bunny,"I'm only a few minutes late what's so important that I need an escort, Kangaroo?"

"North won't tell 'til we all get there and that means you now Frostbite," irritation was clear in Bunny's voice and when Jack didn't respond Bunny spoke again, "Now say goodbye to yer girlfriend and we'll get this meeting underway."

Jack pouted and I remain quiet. After a moment, Jack faced me, blocking Bunny from sight. He took one on my hands in his and said quietly, "I'll be back soon."

I smiled at him softly, "Come home safely."

"That's what you said last time."

"And im saying this time that I'll be here when you get back. I promise," I said. Jack took a moment and then smiled.

"Okay," he said.

"Okay," I smiled and placed my hand on is cheek. Like before he leaned into the touch, "No go do whatever it is you guys do and come home soon."

He smiled and then joined the rabbit. They took off down a hole that opened up at Bunny's feet and smiling, I walked back into the house, glad that in our mad dash out, Jack forgot to lock the door. I smiled upon entering the house and took in a deep breath. Now, I wait.


	13. Chapter 12 Pitch Black

Chapter 12 Pitch Black

I waited around the house for a while, not really doing much. To pass the time I cleaned a bit and got rid of the dust that was forming. I washed the floors and even had time to re-read a Sherlock Holmes story. Jack had yet to come home so after watching the stars for a bit I decided to get wait for him but in more comfort. The bed was so comfortable that I could fall asleep right then and there. I'll admit, I missed Jack holding me as we feel asleep and the conversations we'd have. i missed his delightfully cold skin on mine and wondered when he'll come home so that I could see him again. I pick up the Edgar Allan Poe book that I had taken from the study and intended to use it to stay awake until Jack got home.

However, that plan seemed to fail and miserably at that. I'm not sure when I feel asleep but I remember waking up to Jack bursting into the bed room with worry eminent in his features.

"Scarlett!" he yelled as he entered. I sat up immediately in the bed, causing the book to slip off of my lap, landing on the floor with a thud and Jack's features softened as he layed eyes on me. I rubbed my eyes to clear away the cloudiness from sleep and disorientation caused during my awakening. I noted that the candle I was using as a light source had gone out so the room was dark and years of experience in the dark had taught me to adjust to it fairly quickly.

I watched as Jack walked from the door, looking much more relaxed and up to the side of the bed. He bent down to pick up my fallen book and groaned as he did so. When he straightened up I noticed how battered he looked despite the smile he had on his adorable face as he placed my fallen book on to my night stand.

"Jack, you're hurt," I stated although through my confusion. Had the guardians hurt him? Was it because he knew me that they had done so or was it someone else that had done it? He sighed and I felt myself growing worried.

"It's nothing, don't worry. I just need to lay down for a while. Sorry for waking you. When I came in the house was quiet and I thought you had left me again," he said quietly, as if I would up and leave at any moment. I threw the covers off of me and stood up. I cupped a hand to his face and he winced at my gentle touch. If a gentle touch could cause him to wince then he must be more hurt than I initially thought. I quickly walked around him as he stood there awkwardly and made an assessment of his condition. From what I could tell nothing was broken or sprained but I was still worried regardless.

"Sit down on the bed and don't you dare think of doing otherwise," I said as I walked past him to exit the bedroom to go to the kitchen to get some ice.

"I'm fine Scarlett, no need to worry," he said as I reached the door frame. I turned around and saw what I assumed was suppose to be a reassuring smile but it turned out to be more of a goofy grin plastered on his face. He took a step closer to me and my eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I said sit," my tone was just as dangerous as my glare and I watched as he signed and sank down on to the bed. I then continued making my way to the kitchen and opened the freezer. I was glad that in the time I had spent here prior to running away, I had gotten some house hold items that I thought I would need from the store. I took out a plastic bag and placed four or five ice cubes inside then wrapped it in a towel. I was walking back to the bed room when I walked past the bathroom and grabbed the first aid kit that the original owners left behind. I checked myself in the mirror quickly and noticed that one of the contacts had slipped. I fixed it quickly and left the bathroom, praying that Jack hadn't seen it.

I came back into the bedroom and was pleased to see that Jack was still sitting on the bed where I had left him. I gave him the ice and he immediately took off the towel I had wrapped around it and placed the plastic bag on the side of his face with a satisfactory sigh. I smiled and put the first aid kit down beside him. Jack leaned back against the head board as I stood up again and re-lit the large candle I had used before I had fallen asleep. It gave off quite a bit of light but I lit a couple more candles I had around the room regardless to make sure that I had sufficient light. I had discovered earlier in the night that the power was not working, hence all of the candles.

I sat down beside Jack and opened the first aid kit. Jack cracked open an eye as he heard the lid open. I took out the bottle of rubbing alcohol and poured some on to a cotton ball.

"Jack, I need you to face me," I said softly as I took his chin in my hand and turned it to face me. Jack groaned softly before throwing his feet up on the bed so he was lying down with his back propped up against the head-board. Both of his eyes were open and examining me as I moved closer, my hand still cupping his chin. I brought the cotton ball up to his face and finally asked that question that was eating at my mind, "Who did this to you?"

He winced as the rubbing alcohol killed the bacteria in the cut on his right cheek. The cut was small and was no longer bleeding. I could tell from its size that it wouldn't scar because it was not deep or very big width wise. It was more of a sliver if anything. I began cleaning away the blood from the wound. Jack looked down for a moment then examined my face, "Pitch Black. He attacked us during our meeting saying that we had stolen something of his but we didn't and I just got a little banged up."

So my father had attacked Jack and the guardians. Some how this didn't surprise me. It wasn't good for the guardians but at least he still doesn't know where I am and that was just about the only good thing that came from this. The bad thing was that he was looking for something stolen from him and what I assumed that what he claimed was stolen is in fact me. I understood that father would think that they'd have me mainly because he thought that my center's loyalty and therefore I'd be home by now. But I was happy being out here by myself and with Jack it made it even better. It's been a month that I've been gone and honestly it really doesn't feel like it. I feel like I've only been gone a day or two and I wasn't about to go anywhere yet. So in total it was understandable why he would assume that I was taken but I think that he's got my center all wrong.

I dabbed that the cotton ball on Jack's cut a couple more times before pulling away. As I was pulling out the gauze I asked, "Who's Pitch Black?"

I knew that it was wrong to pretend that I didn't know who my father was but I couldn't have Jack knowing I was related to him. After all he was just attacked by Father so if I were to tell him, 'oh ya Im the guy who just attacked you's daughter' things would not blow over well. At this point it was safer if I simply lied as oppose to telling him the truth.

"He's the boogeyman," said Jack. Boogeyman? I'd never heard of this term especially to describe a person let alone my father. Jack seemed to catch my confusion as I took the gauze and tapped it to his cheek, "He gives the children nightmares using his black sand."

I nodded in understanding although I didn't know what a nightmare actually was and voiced my question, "What's a nightmare?"

"You've never had a nightmare?" asked Jack as he sat up a bit. I shook my head 'no'.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" I asked and he nodded tentatively. He lifted his hoodie and underneath I saw a white shirt before that was lifted as well to reveal a dark blue bruise stretching across his pale stomach. I sucked in a breath at the sight of it and ran back to the kitchen. I took another plastic bag and filled it with ice and sprinted back to the bedroom. I sat down and carefully pressed the ice on his stomach. He sighed at the feeling of the ice and moved the ice that he was holding against his cheek to join the new bag on his stomach.

I reached a hand out and grabbed his chin. I turned his head to get a better look at the bruised cheek. I felt awful. I had done this. If I hadn't run away father wouldn't have hurt. I took in the sight of his dark blue cheek before taking away my hand from his chin and staring down at my lap. Jack seemed to notice my change in demeanor, "Kiss it better?"

He had a smirk on his handsome face and I was momentarily stunned by his boldness but it did succeed in pulling me away from my thoughts, "'Scuse me?"

He turned his head to the side so that his bruise was facing me again, adding to my guilt. His eyes stayed on me and his smirk remained mischievous as he repeated, "Kiss it better?"

The corners of my mouth came up in a smile and I rolled my eyes at the adorable boy. Carefully, I leaned in and kissed his smooth skin. I pulled back immediately and Jack's smirk all but grew at the sight of my rosy cheeks. I huffed and crossed my arms, "Happy now?"

"You're blushing," he all but sang as he purposefully ignored my question.

"Shut it Frost or you'll regret ever opening your mouth again," I snapped back through my embarrassment. This simply caused Jack to laugh and my cheeks tinged a darker shade of red. I bit my lip and looked up at my best friend. Jack opened his mouth to say something and that mischievous smirk was still on his face so before he could even mutter a syllable, I spoke with my increasingly sarcastic tone saying, "Let me guess want me to kiss your stomach so it can 'feel better' too."

I went so far as to add air quotes as I spoke and Jack's smirk widened, "Not what I was gonna say but I wouldn't mind it."

A large smirk now covered his face. It was so big that I swore that his cheeks would break. My face was burning and I could only imagine the blush that covered my cheeks. I rolled my eyes and Jack being, well, Jack, I knew that I wouldn't be able to walk away from this conversation without giving his stomach a kiss. I looked down and saw that he had removed the plastic bags from on top of his stomach, showing the large dark blue bruise. Now that I had a second look at his stomach, I was able to actually notice the little things. Little things including how white his skin which was not bruise is and how he was fairly muscled under his thin frame.

"Like what you see?" he taunted as he notice how much I was staring.

"I was looking at the bruise, actually. It's awful. This Pitch person must be horrible," I lied. I felt bad about bashing my father and lying about my relations with him but Jack couldnt find out. I was surprised, however, by how fluently the lie was told. No wavering in my voice and as far as I could tell my body gave no hints towards my deception. I traced a finger over the dark blue skin lightly then kissed my fingertips and pressed them to his cool skin.

Jack shrugged, "He's just lonely and I guess we're the cause of that because we make it so that children don't really believe in him and that was not a kiss."

Jack pouted and I laughed at his adorable face, "It's the best that you're gonna get Frosty."

Jack pouted some more but I took one of the plastic bags filled and placed it gently on his stomach. I took the other bag of ice from him and brought it back to his cheek. His eyes closed and he sighed contently as he place one of his hands over mine. I smiled softly. Jack really was a great guy and I felt bad that he was in pain because of me. A thought crossed my mind and before I could stop myself I asked it, " Did Pitch find what he was looking for?"

Jack cracked open one eye before he spoke, "No, but the guardians and I are going to start looking for her tomorrow."

I carefully controled my reaction to his statement. As opposed to the shock I felt I smiled softly and nodded before I realised exactly what he was saying as oppose to just clueing into my current safety, "She?"

"Ya, she," said Jack, "The entire time Pitch was there he kept droning on about how we took 'her' and to give 'her' back. We have no idea who this mystery girl is. Tooth thinks it's a wife where as Bunny thinks it could be a daughter or something."

The weight of the situation was bearing down on me but I fought to keep my composer, "And what do you think?"

Jack took a few seconds to really think about my question before answering, "I don't know. I mean it could be a daughter or a wife, but I think that we should just leave this girl alone. If she wanted our help, she would have asked. After all, being around Pitch, he must have bad mouthed us at least once. So this girl would have knowledge about the guardians. Besides, she obviously left for a reason and without Pitch's consent otherwise he wouldn't have seemed this angry and desperate."

I nodded, taking in the information. It was almost as if Jack knew that it was me. He knows that I have prior knowledge about the guardian. I seriously wondered how he hasn't pieced it together yet. I kept up my act and said, "That poor girl."

Jack hummed as if saying 'I agree'. I decided that now was a good time to change the subject and I could feel my curiosity burning, "Jack, what's a nightmare?"

He contemplated my question for a moment before responding, "It's different for each person but basically it's when Pitch messes with Sandy's dream sand so that bad things start happening in the dream. Sometimes nightmares can be so realistic and terrifying that they can keep a person from sleeping. Pitch normally goes after children when he does this."

My eyebrows came together in confusion, "So you mean that he purposefully hurts the children with these nightmares?"

Jack nodded. I couldn't believe it. My father, the man who took care of me my entire life, is a bad guy. I mean, he's never done it to me but he's hurt others and for the most part those others are children. Who does that? Who purposefully hurts children and causes them fear just to be believed it? Apparently my father. I felt sick. This man, that Jack had described to me was not my Father. My father was kind and protective. This man, this man is a monster. Jack spoke but it sounded almost as if he were standing far away from me as oppose to right beside me, "His nightmare are exactly what they sound like though. They're horses made of black sand."

Horses made of black sand? The guards? Father told me that we only had those to protect us. He lied to me. He's been using those to hurt people all along. How could I have been so nieve? I should have seen it and spoken to father. Stopped him or done something at least. I felt my anger boiling up inside of me. Father will hear about this and that conversation will not be pretty. I guess it really was a good thing that I left the Lair after all.

**A/N: so I've received some awesome reviews from people (you know who you are) but to those of you who review as a guest I ask that you don't because I can't contact you back and thank you. I love you guys therefore I wanna talk so from one person to another please sign in so I can say hello :). I love you all so much and thank you for the continued support. As well you don't have to follow what I said, I just wanna be friendly and have you guys feel appreciated because I love all of you. Also I'm on vacation until Friday (when I come back) and I won't have Internet therefore I can't update or respond to PMs or reviews until then.**


	14. Chapter 13: Bunny

Chapter 13: Bunny

Once more I wasn't sure when I fell asleep but after talking for hours with Jack once I had finished cleaning him up from his fight with father we somehow fell asleep. When I woke up I found myself engulfed by his arms and smiled softly at his peaceful face. I got up despite wanting to stay and headed to the bathroom. I smiled softly to myself when my reflection showed my natural bright yellow eyes. I was glad that I had enough sense last night after Jack had fallen asleep to take them out. I bit my lip as I stared at my steel-yellow eyes that seemed to pop out from the shadows of dawn. Maybe I should show Jack one day, then I wouldn't have to worry about the contacts all the time. They were a growing pain in my ass because I always had to take care of them. Take them off and night put them in in the morning, clean them, keep them wet. The list goes on and quite frankly, I was becoming annoyed with them.

I put the stupid coloured lenses in and snuck back into the bedroom. I took a moment beside the door to inspect the scene before me. Jack was lying down, sprawled across the bed with one foot dangling off the edge of the bed. He breathing was deep and could be heard from virtually everywhere in the room. The covers were half thrown over his body with his stomach down, so basically his legs and lower back were being covered. It was an adorable sight and I didn't want to disturb it. As quietly as I could , I made my way over to my side of the bed and slipped in. As soon as I had settled, Jack stirred in his sleep, reaching for me and hugging me to his muscular frame. So this must be why we always wake up holding each other.

I smiled and accepted his show of subconscious affection whole heartedly. The cold from his skin was almost addictive to me and I nuzzled into his hoodie. Jack stirred again clutching me closer for a moment before loosening his grip. He groaned and I looked up to see him opening his eyes.

"Good morning," I said softly. He looked down, facing me with a smile.

"Good morning," he said with a smile.

"How are you feeling?" I asked and lightly ran the pads of my fingers over the bruise on his cheek. Jack squirmed under my touch and took my had in his, lacing our fingers together. I let out a chuckle and gave him a soft smile saying, "Sorry."

" It's okay. I guess I could be better," he said with a soft smile that mirrored my own.

"So what adventure are we going on today?" I asked, changing the subject. I didn't want to think about his bruised body because of the guilt of knowing it was my fault would surely surface again if I thought about it too long.

"Well," said Jack, "I could take you to meet the guardians and you can help us search for this mysterious "she"."

I pretended to contemplate it for a moment with a playful grin, "A fun as that might sound, I'm afraid I'll have to decline."

Jack pouted then took his hand to move some hair from my eyes, letting his cold fingers linger on my cheek. I looked up at him through my lashes as he moved his hand to the back of my neck and pulled me forward. His wonderfully cold lips met my forehead for a moment before he pulled away. He gave me one last smile before pulling away and getting out of bed.

"Come on," said Jack with his devilishly handsome smirk. I threw the blankets off of me.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I got out of bed.

"Well, I have to meet up with the easter Kangaroo, you met him yesterday," said Jack.

"Don't you mean Bunny?" I asked, "He looked more like a Bunny."

We exited the room and entered the kitchen. Jack rolled his eyes, "Naw, he's a kangaroo."

"Bunny," I corrected in a sing-song voice. I looked over a Jack and we laughed.

"Your girlfriend's right, Frostbite," said a familiar accented voice. I practically jumped out of my skin and in my momentary shock, took a hold of Jack's hand. I looked around for the voice and saw Bunny occupying a seat on the couch. I looked at Jack for an explanation. How had this guardian- this companion of Jack's get into our home? Jack seemed to have understood my silent question and shrugged and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze, encouraging me to speak. So I did.

"We're not dating," I said slowly, choosing my words carefully and pausing slightly between each word. Bunny chuckled and stood.

"Sure you're not," he said sarcastically and made a point to look down at our linked hands. I looked down at our hands and back up to Jack's face. I made a face and shrugged to which he responded with an even more ridiculous face and shrugged. Bunny looked at the two of us in a confused manner and we laughed not only because of the faces we made and the shrugging but Bunny's mouth hanging open, eyebrows knit together confused face. Bunny seemed to regain his composer after a moment and scowled at the two of us.

"So Bunny, sorry we got off on the wrong foot yesterday," I said as I spoke with more confidence. Bunny smirked and put his hand or pawn out.

"'S alright Sheila. Name's E. Aster Bunnymund. Everyone calls me Bunny," he said as I shock his hand(pawn?). I smiled.

"Scarlett," I said as we let go of each other's hands.

"So," said Jack, dragging out the word, and letting go of my hand to grab his staff by the kitchen table, "You ready to go? And I hope you don't mind Scarlett's coming with us."

"Are ya now, Sheila? I didn't think you'd have the fight in ya," said Bunny.

My brows came together in confusion, "Jack, I thought I said I wasn't coming and as for fight. You haven't been in one until you've faced me."

"Is that so?"said Bunny.

"I guarantee it," I said. I had no idea if it was pride or competitiveness which had taken control over my mouth and the words that flowed through but I wanted it to stop. If I kept going with the smack talk then I just back myself into a theoretical corner.

"So then you wouldn't mind helping us find this girl then because you're so good," said Jack with a smirk as he toyed with a lock of my hair. And there's the corner. Hello theoretical corner, my name's Scarlett. Thanks for nothing mouth, you're useless.

"Fine, I'll come," I said. If Jack weren't in front of one of his team mates, I'm pretty sure he'd be jumping around with excitement and shoving a coat in my face again as he flew us out the front door. Luckily for me, Bunny was here and therefore it didn't happen and we were still in the living room when I smirk and spoke, "But only to keep this one in line."

Jack smirked as well and took a step closer to me, "Is that so?"

I stood my ground, "Yes, in fact it is."

"I'd like to test that," he said, taking another step closer so that we were standing chest to chest. A look of pure mischief was displayed in his features and I could see in the reflections of his beautiful eyes that determination was what covered my own.

"How about we test it now. Come on, lovebirds. We gotta girl to find," said Bunny. And here comes the lies. Hello lies, my name's Scarlett. I didn't want to lie to the, but if they knew that it was me, well, I wasn't certain what would happen. Whether they would continue to let me live happily with Jack keeping me company or take me away, I didn't know. If they did take me away would it be for ransom(just as father always said)? Never let me see father again? Make me tell them information that could end up hurting father?

Well, regardless of what they would do, I was most likely not going to stand for it. I want my freedom and I liked having the ability to think for myself about what I can and cannot do. With that in mind, that means that lies are a necessity at this point. Thus, I assume that they will be piling up shortly, adding to my already guilty consccious. I hated it but what other choice did I have? It was either lie or have the things I love taken from me and that was not going to happen.

Jack fetched my jacket while I was lost in my thoughts and handed it to me, giving me just enough time to throw it on before he shoved my axe in my face, causing me to say with as much sarcasm that I knew that I had, "Thanks Jack."

"You're slow! Come on," he said as he took my hand and running us out the door. I heard Bunny chuckle behind us. Bunny followed us out, closing the door behind him before hopping in front of Jack and I, causing us to stop. I gave Bunny a questioning look, asking silently why he had stopped us. When my question went unanswered I turned my gaze upon Jack. He was smirking and it wasn't his usual smirk. Oh,no. This smirk was much more devious and overall appeared to be even more menacingly mischievous than his usual smirk. Shit. I turned my gaze back to Bunny to see that he wore a frightening smirk as well. Double shit.

"Buckle up," was all the furry creature said before the ground disappeared from beneath my feet. Triple shit. I screamed from the momentary shock that accompanied the feeling of falling. It took a moment for me to register that I was sliding down an underground tunnel and another moment more to stop my screaming altogether and start laughing.I threw my hands in the air at one point and accepted the adrenaline as it came. I just had to roll with it. A door suddenly came up in front of us and at the speed we were going,we'd plow right through it. I didn't make a sound as we slid closer to the door. At the moment I was trusting in Bunny to do something about this. We were in his tunnels after all. At the last second the stone door opened and we slid out safe and sound in the middle of a green grass land. I looked around in awe, this place was beautiful.

"Where are we?" I asked as I took in a deep breath. This place smelled of oak and honey and it was moderately warm with the sun's rays beating down on us. I did a full three hundred and sixty degree turn as I took everything in. The skys were clear and blue reminding me of the ocean.

"Welcome to the grasslands of Australia," said Bunny as he hopped into view in front of me. The grass lands were beautiful and I noticed for the first time that we were just on the out skirts of a town. Slowly we made our way towards the town while we discussed how this would work.

"Jack, you take Scarlett and look for any girls that might look like they'd have some sort of affiliation with Pitch. I'll look for any women. We meet back here at dusk. Don't get lost," was all the large rabbit said before he hopped of. I was surprised by the amount of speed he had until I remembered that bunnies are suppose to be really fast.

"Don't get lost," Jack mimicked in the worst fake accent I had ever heard as we continued talking.

"It's okay Jack. Come on, we have a job to do," I said in an attempt to lift Jack's sprites and it seemed to work quite well because it only took a couple of seconds before he unexpectedly wrapped his arms around my stomach and rocketed into the air. My eyes were squeezed shut for fear of seeing that we weren't flying and were actually falling.

"Open your eyes," Jack breathed into my ear and slowly, I did. The view was spectacular although I still prefer the one from our home in Canada. We flew for a few minutes as Jack preformed some tricks on our way to the town. I noted that his skin was still blissfully cold and I smiled. We touched down and began our search. Although I knew the girl we were looking for was me, I was still happy to spend time talking with Jack. I found that Bunny was also quite nice despite his rough exterior. Maybe the guardians really weren't so bad after all.


	15. Chapter 14 Australia

Chapter 14: Australia

We searched for hours. Well, Jack did at least. I already knew where the mysterious she was because she was me and therefore I more or less pretended to be looking for a girl. I learned more about my father during the day and found that he really was not a good man. Harming people for fun and using their fear to influence them. I wondered why he had never done this to me before I came up with the conclusion that he was two faced. Father acted one way with us and another way entirely in public and when the guardians are around. It's awful!

But then again there was me. I know that they'll never find who they're looking for because I'm right here making sure that they won't find me. It reminds me of that saying, keep your friends close and your enemies even close. I don't want them to be the enemy. I like hanging around Jack. He's my best friend but then again he still is a guardian, an enemy. Why can't things just be simple? I didn't want to be as two faced as I was acting. It wasn't fair to them but if I tell them now would they understand my reasons for hiding the truth from them? Most importantly what would they do with this information? I don't want to be in hiding anymore especially in hiding from them. If I have to hide from them then I might as well go back to father because I'd be doing what I was doing while I was living with father.

So I kept my mouth shut and pretended to be interested in the search and provided my views on who could be a possible candidate for people they thought was the mysterious she.

It was around two in the afternoon when we decided to take a break. My skin felt over heated and I knew that Jack, being a winter spirit, must have been feeling just as bad as I was. I had long since taken off my jacket and tied it around my waist to reveal the green t-shirt I had on underneath. Jack sat on a tree branch that he had flown to while I attempted to climb the tree to catch him.

"Come on, Jack! Why did you have to pick such a high branch?" I asked as I pulled myself up on to a think branch. Half way there.

"Because its nicer up here," said Jack as he watch me struggle up to the next branch.

"Well, its nice down here too, ya know," I said before I slipped then a strong wind helped me regain my balance. I clung to the trees trunk and regained my breath. I was determined to reach the retched boy, even if I died trying. I reached up and grabbed another branch, using it to pull me up.

"Oh well, you're almost up anyways," he said as he laid back with his back against the truck and arms behind his head. I got up another branch and noticed Jacks dangling feet. I reached a hand up and grabbed his ankle, pulling down. Jack jerked and sat up, pulling his foot away from me. In his surprise he yell, "Scarlett!"

He pulled his foot up away from me and scowled as I laughed. A strong wind blew causing me to almost lose my balance. My eyes widened in shock, "Jack!"

Jack certainly did get the last laugh as he doubled over while I sat down on my branch. His laughter stopped after a while but I found myself missing the noise. The sound of his laughter was like bells and it sent a warm fuzzy feeling down into the pit of my stomach, causing my heart to flutter.

"Haha. Real funny," I said sarcastically.

"Just returning the favor," came his mischievous reply.

"Jack!" called a deep voice. A man was standing under the tree wearing a red shirt and black pants. He was huge! I couldn't believe it. The man had white hair and a long white beard. Another stood beside him. He was much shorter and looked to be made of golden sand. I knew immediately that these men were guardians.

"Oh, hey North," said Jack with a relaxed smile. He sent a look my way and nodded, telling me without words that I'd be okay and I nodded back, saying 'I understand'. I sat still trying to calm my beating heart. I was told to run away from these men and here I was sitting perfectly still. My breathing was hard and I tried to calm myself by controlling it through my fear. Breath in, two , three, four. Out, two, three, four. In two, three, four. Out, two, three, four. Finally, when I felt I was ready I tuned back into their conversation.

"Jack, you did not say you were bringing friend," said the larger man. He had a thick accent although I didn't know specifically the kind of accent it was. He rolled his "r"s as he spoke which added to a sort of jolly sound. I looked at Jack as he hopped to my branch.

He had a small smile on his face and held a hand out for me to take, "Come say hello."

I looked at his for a moment as I bit my lip and he spoke again, "I'll be right there with you. Nothing is going to happen, I promise."

I searched his eyes for any hints of deception and found none. Jack was being completely genuine in his words, so tentatively I took his hand and he flew us down to ground level. He continued holding my left hand as he introduced me, "Scarlett meet North and Sandy. North, Sandy, meet Scarlett."

"Ah Scarlett! It is nice to finally meet you!" said the large man now known as North in a booming voice. He was huge in stature and completely intimidating. The small golden man tipped a hat made of what appeared like golden sand in my direction. He was adorably plump and the two seemed a bit excentric in contrast but all together nice enough. I don't understand why father would want me to run away from them, I mean so far the guardians have been nothing but nice to me. So why are they enemies? I didn't understand.

"It's nice to meet you as well. Jack's told me about you guys," I said politely and it was true. Last night after talking about father for a while, Jack began telling me about each of the guardians. The names were all familiar from the books that I had read; Sandman, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth fairy, even Jack was mentioned in a couple of books. It was almost surreal knowing that I actually know The Jack Frost and now the easter bunny, santa clause, and Sandman. Jack told me stories of his experiences with them and how each of them acted.

"So whatcha here for North?" asked Jack.

"We ran into tooth, who saw Bunny not too long ago. He thinks he's found her," said North. I was amused and wondered who they could have found that would remotely resemble me. I stuck close to Jack as I followed them through a portal to where we ended up on the roof of a building. I immediately saw Bunny bent over looking at a street. There was a bird styled woman floating beside him. This was obviously the humming bird woman father had told me about. The two turned when they heard our foot falls.

"Hey mates, she's down there in the all black outfit and red hair," said Bunny, getting right down to business. It was so hot on the roof but I walked up to the edge with Jack beside me. I snook a quick glance at him and I could see that he was having a hard time dealing with the heat as well. I looked over the edge of the building and scanned the surrounding crowd for this girl that they thought was me.

It wasn't very hard to spot her because she stuck out like a sore thumb or so the saying goes. She looked to be in her early twenties with flaming red hair and with black undertones. She wore an all black outfit and seemed to have what looked like a permanent scowl on her face. She was ignored completely by everyone in the crowd. Not a single person seemed to glance her way and I'll admit, if there was another, darker me, it would be her. Her ghostly white skin made her seem like she was just that, a ghost. It was a fair choice to be the mysterious she because she looked just as dangerous as father when he's mad.

I felt a tap on my shoulder after a moment and turned around to see the brightly feathered woman. She wore a large smile on her face, showing off perfectly white teeth.

"Hello, my names Tooth and I've heard a lot about you Scarlett," she said happily. I tilted my head in confusion, what did she know about me?

Regardless I held out my hand politely for her to shake saying, "It's a pleasure Tooth."

I gave her a small smile and she gasped. An even bigger smile made it's way on her face and she immediately reached out, causing me to flinch and bring a hand down to rest on my axe while her fingers dove into my mouth, pulling my lips apart. She seemed to be examining my teeth and Jack chuckled from behind me. I should have resisted or done something but my confusion kept me from doing much of anything.

"Tooth, fingers out of mouth," said North in an almost fatherly manner.

Her fingers immediately left my mouth and she mumbled a quick, "Sorry. They're beautiful."

I bit my lip and held back a smile. By I'm assuming by the "they're" that she meant my teeth. I decided to break the tense silence with a question to redirect the attention from me to someone else, "So what do you guys think? Is she the one we're looking for?"

I knew she wasn't but hey, all of the attention was unbearable. North ran a couple of fingers through his beard thoughtfully and Sandy scratched his chin. It took a couple of seconds before anyone actually spoke up and answered my question.

"She is a definite candidate," said North finally.

"Someone should go check," said Tooth.

"What do ya expect one of us just to go up to the sheila and say, ' hey, do ya have any relations with the boogeyman?' I don't think that'll work mate," said Bunny as he stood to his full height.

"But if she's human she won't be able to see us. So if one of us goes down there and is able to make some form of contact with her then we'll know it's her, right?" I said. North smiled widely before throwing his arms in the air.

"Scarlett, you are genius," said North in his booming voice. I smiled. I actually felt like I was a part of the group. Like they accepted me despite my lies and disguise. I felt like I actually mattered. Like I was contributing to something even though I knew that it futile but still I felt like I had a purpose. Here with this group I wasnt invisible. I was seen and heard and appreciated. All of the things I would have never felt if I had stayed back at the lair. I'm happy that I left because if I hadn't I would have never felt this good.

"So," said Bunny pulling me from my thoughts with his serious tone and his words in general, "Who's gonna go down there?"

I looked around the circle quickly and smiled as Sandy lifted his hand excitedly, a large smile on his face. The small man is absolutely adorable but he was quickly shut down by North, "No Sandy. The children will see you. They will see all of us."

"They won't see Frostbite and Blacky over there," said Bunny as he sent us a smirk. Blacky? how much did he know about me? Did they know that it was me that is was looking for?

"Blacky?" I asked, trying to keep up my disguise.

"Yer hair, mate," replied Bunny. I took a lock and examined it. Oh ya.

"Blacky?" said Jack sudden;y, "You got it wrong easter Kangaroo, Newbie is a much better nick name. Don't ya think, Scarlett?"

"What ever you say Jack," I said as I shook my head playfully at the boy.

"Newbie?" asked Bunny.

"Long story," I said, cutting off Jack, " So are we gonna go get the girl or not?"

I looked over at Jack and noticed that his usual frost on his hoodie was starting to melt. His face was starting to look a little pink too. The heat was getting to me so I couldn't imagine what Jack's going through. I could see him breathing hard despite his best efforts to look normal.

"Jack, you should sit down. In some shade preferably," I said.

"What? I'm fine. I'm Jack Frost," he said proudly but I could hear his breathlessness in his voice.

"Exactly, you're Jack Frost. Personification and bringer of winter. Now seat. I'll go get her," I said seriously. Jack looked as if he was about to protest, "The more you fight me, the faster she'll get away."

Jack huffed then wrapped his free arm around me. My eyes widened for a moment as he took off. My feet touched down a moment later and I could feel how hard he was breathing. I brought him into a shaded alley and let him rest against one side of the building. The girl walk past the entrance of the alley and I ran after her quickly. My hand passed through her shoulder as I reached for her, just like I knew it would. Well thats the end of that. Now to bring Jack home. I turned back to the alley and Jack stood up on shaky legs.

"There she can't see us. I went straight through her. Now lets get you home," I said as I threw one of his arms over my shoulder and wrapped my arms around his mid section. He shot up into the air and we landed back on the building with the other guardians. He staggered upon landing and I steadied him as best as I could. I looked up at the other guardians, "It's too hot here. I need to get him home. Also the girl isn't the one. I went through her."

North nodded as Tooth fluttered over asking, "Jack, are you okay?"

"Ya, Im fine. Just a little outta breath," said Jack.

"Mr. North, do you think we could use that magic portal to bring us home?" I asked as Jack replied to Tooth.

"Mr. North? No, no Scarlett, just North is fine. Here take snow globe," he said as he held out a round glass ball to me. I took it and looked up at him, "To make it work shake it and then say location. After smash globe on ground and walk through magic portal."

I nodded then shook the snow globe before bringing it up to my lips saying, "Home."

I smashed the snow globe on the ground and a colourful portal appeared. I turned to the guardians and said, "Thanks for the snow globe North. Let us know if anything else happens."

North nodded and I smiled and continued to talk, "It was nice meeting all of you."

"Bye, Scarlett, we'll see you soon." said Tooth as Sandy wave goodbye. I gave a small smile and walked through the portal with Jack.


	16. Chapter 15: Fight

Chapter 15: Fight

We came through the portal and were immediately met with a cold arctic wind of my real home. After all I'm not my fathers personal dancing monkey anymore, so my home is where choose it to be. I shivered in delight and I felt Jack take in a deep breath. My arm was still thrown around him to help him stand. He struggled as we made our way to the door of the house. Snow was falling heavily around us and I figured it was better if I let Jack cool off outside rather than bringing him inside. So I walked him over to the wall beside the door and together, we sat down in the snow. I took my jacket from around my waist and put it on quickly.

Jack was still catching his breath and I sat against the wall beside him. I drapped my arm over his shoulder and let him rest against me. His head fell on to my shoulder and with my free hand, I ran my fingered through his silky smooth hair in hopes that it would sooth him. No words were exchanged as I sat beside him and hoped that the cold air from our home would help in healing him. We sat there like that for a long time.

Jack slowly fell asleep from the exhaustion that comes with being in the sun all day and being a winter spirit in said sun. I rested my head against his and tried to keep myself as warm as possible as I shivered beneath him. I didn't know what time it was, nor did I particularly care. The snow had long since built up on and around us. Creating a beautiful and very cold white blanket. The shivering had started a while ago and at the start I tried to contain it so that it wouldn't bother Jack but after a while, I'm not sure when, it came through with a vengeance that I couldn't contain.

It wasn't too long after the uncontrollable shivers set in that I remember the tent and sleeping bag I got a few weeks ago. Carefully, I detangled myself from Jack before I ran inside to go get them. I found them still stuffed in the Algonquin pack and pulled them out. I also slipped on a couple of pairs of warmer clothes and took a pit stop in the bathroom to take out my contacts. I placed them in their case and slipped the case im my pocket before taking my things and running outside again.

It took several frustrating minutes before I figured out how to set up the tent and I threw the sleeping bag in when I was done then went to get Jack. He looked almost peaceful in his sleep. I assumed that if he wasn't partially sunburnt and bruised from yesterday's run in with father that he would look a lot better. I felt the guilt creep up again from where it rested in the back of my mind. He was injured and it was my fault. I did this. I'll be it indirectly and I certainly didn't mean for it to happen, but it still doesn't stop the fact that it did happen and I triggered it.

I crouched down beside Jack and gently shook him awake, "Jack, wake up hun. Hey, I need you to come with me for a minute then you can go back to sleep, okay?"

I could see Jack fighting to stay awake as I half dragged him into the tent. I laid him down beside the sleeping bag and he fell asleep immediately. I was surprised to see him still holding on to his staff and he actually curled around it in a possessive manner. It was adorable despite the circumstances and with that in mind, I braced myself for the what ever adventures the night would bring.

I crawled into my sleeping bag in hopes that it would stop my shivering. As soon as I was settled, Jack reached an arm out towards me. I took his hand with a soft smiled as he mumbled something in his sleep. His hand was warm. Well, warmer than it should have been and it worried me. Those thoughts were quickly dismissed as Jack tugged on my hand, trying to pull me closer to him. I continued smiling softly and I moved closer to him. He seemed to sense my heat because as soon as I was close enough, he threw his arm around my waist, cuddling closer to me and smiled in his sleep.

He was adorable and before I could stop myself I reached my hand behind his neck and used it to bring him closer as I leaned in and kissed his forehead. I pulled away after a moment and smiled. He tugged at my waist, bringing me even closer to him and I put my arm under his head, letting him use it as a pillow.

Sleep did not come easily for me, especially because of the biting cold. I woke up every hour or so and it seemed to take forever to fall back asleep. Jack's condition seemed to be getting better as the night wore on and I checked his temperature every time I woke up. Towards morning the cold seemed to affect me less and at one point I stopped shivering altogether.

I couldn't feel my hands or feet by the time early morning rolled around. I knew when the sun came up that I wouldn't be able to fall asleep so I put my contacts back in. I was thankful that I did because not ten minutes after I had settled back down with Jack using my arm as a pillow again did he wake up. I ran my hand over his cheek in soothing motions and I smiled as he opened his eyes.

"Good morning," I said softly. He shifted bringing a hand up to rub his eyes and his forehead. He let out a groan and I chuckled as I pulled my hand back saying, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," he said the took his hand down from his eyes and looked my way saying, "Good morning."

Something seemed to scare him because his eyes widened when they looked at me. Was it my contacts? Did I put them in? Yes, I did. I know I did. Was there something on my face? He reached a hand out and rested it on my cheek, moving a bit of hair as he did so. His eyes scanned my face quickly before looking into my eyes. His thumb ran over my cheek in soothing motions, much like what I had done before. He had a concerned expression as he spoke, "Scarlett, your lips are blue."

I was confused. Blue lips? I shrugged it off. I wasn't cold anymore so why would they be blue? He ran a hand down to rub his thumb over my lower lip.

"I'm fine," I said with a shrug.

"Scarlett, were you out here all night?" asked Jack.

"Yeah," I answered unsurely. What was he getting at?

"Weren't you cold? Why didn't you go inside?"

"I was more worried about you then me. Besides the cold stopped bothering me a while ago,"

Jack ran a hand through his hair then stood and held out his hand for me to take. I gave him a confused look but took his hand regardless of the fact. He pulled me out of the sleeping bag and I was surprised that I didn't feel any colder. He used a foot to kick up his staff and he took it in one hand as he led me out of the tent with the other. I wondered where we were going but never voiced any of my concerns. I was surprised when Jack led me into the house.

I didn't question him as he led me to the bed room and told me to sit down on the bed. I did as I was told and he left the room without another word. I wondered what was going on and even more so when Jack came back in with a large pile of blankets from the hall closet.

"Jack, what-" I began before he hushed me. I kicked my legs up on the bed and rested my back against the back board. Jack smirked and then began draping the blankets on me. I gave him a questioning look with my eyes but he refused to answer. Finally when the last blanket was drapped on up to my neck, Jack took a seat beside me. We sat in silence for a while as I watched Jack and waited for him to explain what was happening. Feeling was slowly returning to my hands and feet and I found myself shivering. Why was I shivering?

"Hypothermia," said Jack suddenly. I gave him, yet again, another questioning look as I silently asked him to continue and luckily he did, "I knew the moment I looked at you this morning. All of the signs where there. Blue lips, cold skin, not shivering even through it's below freezing."

I stayed quiet as he continued talking and an anger seemed to take over his voice, "Did I ever tell you how I died Scarlett? Winter killed me. I drowned in a half frozen pond. My sister and I were out skating and the ice cracked. I almost lost her that day because I was careless and now I've almost lost you for the same reasons."

"Jack, I'm fine," I said softly as I reached out a hand to hold his. He pulled away as soon as I touched him.

"No its not Scarlett! Don't you get it? You could have died and I would have killed you!"

"But I'm not dead, Jack!" I said, anger creeping into my veins. I never liked getting yelled at and the guilt from the past few days was coming back with a vengeance. I hated it.

"You could have died! Why didn't you go inside and warm up? You were freezing and you still are!"

"I was fine Jack! I'm not some delicate thing that will die the moment they step out of line! I have the right to making my own choices!"

Jack turned to face me completely, anger was clearly written upon his features as he yelled, "I know that Scarlett! But this is different! Your life was on the line!"

"Well I'm not dead Jack so stop worrying about it. Besides I was more worried about you!"

"Scarlett, I'm the bringer of winter! I thrive in the cold!"

"I've lived in cold and darkness my entire life! I think I can handle one night of ruffing it!" I yelled back.

"No you can't, Scarlett! Not because for me!"

"You can't tell me what to do, Jack!"

"I can't do this right now. I'm going out," said Jack as he stood up and left the room before I could say anything. That didn't go well. I sighed and I felt the fading of the boiling hot anger in my veins. Regret kicked in when I heard the front door slam. I looked down at the blankets for a moment before kicking them off of me and running after Jack. I threw the door open and looked around for the snow haired boy. He was no where in sight and I figured he must have flown off. I sighed wearily.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly, even though I knew he was gone. Then I turned and walked back in the house, closing the door behind me and sinking on to the floor.

**A/N: indigo Boggs please sign in or sign up, I wanna word with you, love ;)**


	17. Chapter 16 cliffs and unwanted visits

*edit: 2013/ 03/ 26- the last bit of the chapter for typos and rewritten paragraph because it didn't have the proper tone and description.

Chapter 16: Cliffs and unwanted visits

It's been several hours since my fight with Jack and I felt like absolute crap. I spent most of my time reading as I waited for him to come home. I didn't even really pay attention as I read and ended up actually spending most of my time starring out a window or at the page I was suppose to be reading. I wanted him home. I wanted to apologize. I was worried about him. What was he doing? Was he okay?

I spent some time thinking about father as well. I missed him so much and I wondered if this was how he felt when he found out that I had gone missing. I was tempted to go back to him and forget about this entire adventure. The thing that kept me from running back to him was the thought that I would be running away from my problems. So I stayed.

I closed the book that I had open on my lap and stretched, turning my head to look out the window. I sighed before I grabbed my coat, hat, gloves and axe. I put them on slowly then put on my boots. I took my set of keys as I left the house and closed the door behind me. It wasn't too cold outside and I made my way towards the forest trail for the first time in a while. I walk slowly, taking my time and wondered vaguely if I should have left a note behind to say where I had gone. I shrugged off the thought with the fact that Jack could always follow my boot tracks and find me.

I walked until I saw the cliffs up ahead and I was surprised at the sight of Jack standing there with his back to me, facing the cliffs. I continued walking after a moment and just like normal Jack turned around when he heard my foot falls. The only difference was his expression was more somber than the happy one that I was so use to. I waisted no time in promptly walking up to him and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"I'm sorry," I whispered as I buried my face in the crook of his neck. His arms wrapped around my waist as he hugged me back. I heard a crunch in the snow and I assumed it was because he had dropped his staff because it was no longer in his hands as he hugged me.

"Me too. I'm sorry for yelling. I was just worried about you," he said and I pulled away enough to face him.

I gave him a small smile, "I was too."

Jack moved one hand from my waist and up to cup my cheek, his thumb tracing patterns on the soft skin. He leaned his forehead against mine and I took in a deep breath, smiling at his wonderful scent. He was so close but it was comfortable. His hand moved down and his thumb ran over my lower lip.

"Are they still blue?" I asked and in all honesty I didn't even know.

For a moment Jack looked like he was both confused and as though I'd caught him doing something bad. Then he smiled softly and said, "No, their pink and..."

He trailed off. Not really finishing his sentence but staring at my lips.

"Pink and what?" I asked. Im assuming the word was something along the line of kissable because my lips were suddenly pressed against his. They were cold and wonderful all at once and made me feel light headed. My fingers tangled with his silky smooth hair and I smiled into the kiss. It was very short lived however because one second his lips were on mine and the next they were gone and stuttering out an apology. I didn't pay any attention to what he was saying as I grabbed the front of his hoodie and tugging it close to me saying, "Shut up and kiss me."

And just like that his lips were back. It was wonderful and amazing. No romance novel that I've ever read could compare to Jack. One hand cupped his cheek as the other held tight to the front of his hoodie. I felt the coolness of his arms on my hips again and everything was perfect. He was perfect. His lips moved against mine and I enthusiastically moved against his. My stomach was doing little flips which added to my overall sense of euphoria. The loss of air in my lungs caused me to pull away from him. He smiled softly at me as we caught our breath.

I bit my lip,looking down unsurely for a moment before looking up again and asking, "Come home?'

Those two words were so simple but the meaning behind them caused me to be nervous. Come home. I wasn't just inviting him to come back to a building that we've been living in. No, I was really asking if he'd want to come back to a place where we can both be happy and make memories. Home. A real home, because home isn't defined as a building. Home is defined by where our heart is. Where are memories are. Where we can truly be happy. The most important part of that question wasn't just that he'd come back to a place where we could be happy but if he'd come back with me. To come back to a place where we could be together and happy. A home, and I wanted him to come back with me.

I smiled when he reached for my hand and took it in his much larger one. He smiled at me, a look that I've never seen on his face before, utter happiness and what looked like one of fondness as well. His voice was soft as he said, "Always. Let's go home, Scarlett."

Jack picked up his staff and together we walked back to our home. The walk seemed to be faster than any of the other times we had come home from the cliffs. I suppose that it could be because we weren't really paying attention to anything other than each other and we were happy. As we walked back, hand in hand, I decided to start up a conversation. Mainly it was so that I could hear his beautiful voice again but also because I was actually very curious about him. I asked about the guardians and his previous dealings with my father.

"And then, with Jamie's help, we were able to defeat Pitch," said Jack as his story came to a close. With an adventure like that it was no wonder that father was so weak. He had his ass handed to him but with good reason. I don't fully agree with father's methods for gaining power but I did know why he was doing it. It was so that we could be free, but I know now that no matter how many people father defeats it will never be enough to gain my freedom. Just father would have been free. He never would have let me go. I would be stuck there. Alone.

I felt sorry for Jack. Prier to meeting the guardians he had been alone for three hundred years. He was like me. Trapped within himself and his loneliness. Unable to escape because he wasn't seen were as I was unable to escape the over protectiveness of my father. I never want Jack to be alone again. I know the pain of being lonely and I would never wish it on another.

"Scarlett, can I ask you a question?" asked Jack suddenly, changing the subject. I smiled softly at him.

"Of course, Jack,"

"How did I get into the tent?" he asked.

"I woke you up and brought you inside, why?" I asked. Did he not remember? I mean, I know that it's hard to remember things in half consciousness.

"Because I remember looking at you but you were different. You had yellow eyes," said Jack. Oh crap. He remembered. Crap.

"Yellow eyes? Jack my eyes are blue," I lied. It came out so easily too and I didn't miss a beat either. It was completely convincing. Despite my panic, I always knew one thing that I could do without messing up, lying. Years with father had taught me that. I just never really realised it before.

"I know," said Jack as he ran his free hand through his hair. I felt my heart pick up in pace, he was beautiful. He looked at me through the corner of his eye and said, "Its just, I remember that they were this bright yellow."

"Jack," I said putting on the best look of concern I could muster up through the lie, "you were probably hallucinating. I don't have yellow eyes."

So much for getting rid of my contacts. I felt awful about lying and I don't know why I didn't tell him the truth in the beginning. I guess I was so use to lying at this point that I happened automatically now. Jack sighed and said, "You're probably right."

As the forest trail came to an end and the house was in sight I decided it was time to change the subject so I wouldn't have to lie anymore. So I asked him, "So how did you become a guardian?"

Jack paused then smiled, "I think that I was always meant to be a guardian. I saved my little sister when the ice cracked while we were skating. I think that it just took that adventure for me to figure it out. "

"Are you happy?" I asked, Jack gave me a confused glance and I clarified my question, "Are you happy that you're a guardian?"

"Yeah, I think so. I mean I get to play with kids and I got to meet you. So yeah, I'm happy," He said as he opened the door and gave my hand a little squeeze. I smiled up at him and was once again caught in how breath taking he was. It only lasted a moment however because another voice spoke suddenly.

"Where have the two of ya been? North's called a meeting at the pole," there was Bunny, sitting on our couch again. I gave a little jump and reached a hand to grab my axe before my mind registered that it was Bunny. I breathed out a sigh of relief as Jack spoke up.

"Why didn't he turn on the lights then?" asked Jack. Bunny stood and made his way over to us.

"He did, Frostbite. We thought something had happened when you didn't show," said Bunny.

"What's North calling the meeting for?" I asked, redirecting the attention from Jack back to the initial reason as to why Bunny was interrupting us.

"He wanted to make sure you were alright after yesterday," said Bunny. I narrowed my eyes at the large rabbit. Did he expect us to believe that?

"He wouldn't have turned on the lights for that. What are you keeping from us Bunny?" I asked. I knew that Bunny was with holding information from me and I wanted to know what it was.

"Nothin' Sheila. Now if ya don't mind I need to borrow your boyfriend for a couple of hours," said Bunny. Yup, he was definitely hiding something. I knew that I would find out in due time so I perched my lips together to show my discontent.

Finally I said, "Fine."

Bunny smiled and I turned to Jack.

"Be home soon. I have a bad feeling about this," I whispered to Jack as I hugged him. Jack nodded and I gave him a small smile.

"Come on, Frostbite," said Bunny as he tapped his foot twice and causing a hole to form in our living room.

"See ya soon, Scarlett," said Jack with a soft smile. He bend down and kissed my cheek causing me to feel flustered. i gave him a small smile as he walked over to the tunnel and jumped down sending me a smile over his shoulder before he disappeared from sight. Bunny was still there and as soon as Jack was out of sight I sent the rabbit a glare.

"I don't know what you're up to or implying by coming here but you better not hurt him or I will kill you," I threatened. Generally, I wouldn't have acted like this but the glare that Bunny was giving me forced my hand. I had no choice but to show that I would fight if need be because the information that Bunny was with holding was worrying me and should it be about my father I had to show that I wasn't going down without a fight. My freedom will not be lost to me so soon. Besides, I had to show that if he was going to be hostile, I would be too.

"Sure ya will, Blacky," said Bunny as he jumped in after Jack and if looks could kill, I'm certain that in that moment my glare would have murdered Bunny.


	18. Chapter 17: Father

Chapter 17: Father

Night had fallen and Jack had yet to come home. I was beginning to worry. What if the guardians found out? What if they're hurting Jack because of it? What if I couln't see him again? I took in a deep breath to try and calm myself down. He was probably fine and I was just jumping to conclusions.

I heard a door open suddenly and a voice called out, "Scarlett?"

It was Jack's voice! He was okay. I hopped out of bed and ran down the hall to meet him. When I rounded the corner into the living room I noticed his somber expression but it quickly changed to a happy one as soon as he saw me. So something did happened. i ran up to the tall boy and threw my arms around his neck, hugging him.

I heard something fall to the ground and in the next moment his arms were wrapped around me. I smiled as I breathed in his scent. Pulling away I asked, "How was he meeting?"

Jack avoided my gaze for a moment before looking at me seriously. Something had happened. I knew it. My mind went on auto-pilot as endless scenarios plaed through my head. All of which had a common theme to it. They knew.

"Scarlett, we need to talk," said Jack finally. His voice sounded so far away and in the midst of my panic I remembered keeping a confused exterior. It was all a part of the act. I was acting. I had to. What other choice did I have? They must have found out that I'm Pitch Black's daughter! How? How did they find out? I covered my tracks so carefully! Oh no! It was because of last night! I was vaguely awaire of Jack leading me over to the couch. The one track I didn't cover was last night. My eyes. They're my father's eyes.

Jack looked at me for a long moment before speaking, "I was talking with Tooth."

He paused, whether it was to give me time to digest the information or if it was to find the right words I didn't know but what I did know was that I could feel the pounding of my heart against my ribcage and it hurt. He knew. He knew and the suspence was killing me. How long is it going to take for him to tell me that he knows? I wanted to do nothing more than run away before anything happened. I was a coward and I hated it, but all I wanted was my freedom. A thought crossed my mind in the midst of my panic, what if he hated me now? As soon as the thought came I pushed it away. Jack wouldn't hate me, right?

"She said that she couldn't find your baby teeth," said Jack. If I wasn't keeping up a rues, Im sure that I would have sighed in relief. He didn't know. Or rather he might have but isn't calling me out on it.

"My baby teeth? What's wrong with that?" I asked with a small smile as relief filled my system. They didnt know.

"They hold memories from your childhood but we can't find any that are belong to you," said Jack and I chuckled.

"Father's seen to that. As soon as they came out he had them distroyed," I explained.

"Why did he distroy them?" asked Jack as he threw an arm over my shoulder and pulling me close.

I played with the fingers on his free hand and explained, "He didn't want you guys knowing about me. So he erased all evidence of my exsistance including my baby teeth."

"So he just distroyed them?" asked Jack.

"Yes," I paused for a moment, "He didn't want the guardians to find me. He always told me that you wouldn't treat me kindly. Hold me for ransom or interigate me for information or worse. He was always fearful that I would fall into the wrong hands but I guess no matter how much he tried it happened anyways."

I smiled as I laced my finger's with Jack's and looked down at our hands. I looked up at Jack and he had a sort of lopsided smile. It was absolutely adroable. He shifted closer to me than what he already was and used the arm that he had around my shoulders to tug on the back of my neck. He kissed my temple and all that I found myself thinking was that I wanted those lips again but I sat still. This was a serious conversation. Jack pulled away with a smile and leaned back, pulling me so that I rested on his strong frame.

"You know, he always said that once he'd defeat you guys once and for all, that we would be free. I could go outside and not have to worry about being hurt or anything, but I know now that that would have never been able to happen. He would be free but I would still be locked up at home. He would have been too fearful of some other force rising up and taking me away. His biggest fear is losing me like how he lost mother," I said solumly. My father's past was not a nice one. Littered with failure and loss. I felt sorry for him but at the same time I knew that I had to live my own life.

"Scarlett," said Jack after a moment, "who is your father?"

I groaned, "Not now, Jack, I'm tired. Besides, I'm not ready to have that conversation, not yet."

"Just tell me Scarlett," begged Jack.

"No, Jack. If I told you, then you'd have two responces. You'd either dispise me or I'd have a lot of explaining to do. Or even worse it would be both and I don't want to deal with it right now," I said tiredly.

Jack pulled me close, hugging me to his frame, saying, "Scarlett, I couldnt hate you."

I sighed. I knew he was going to say that. I looked down at our hands and spoke, "you would, Jack. I know you and I know that you would. I'm the daughter of someone truly horrible. I didn't know it before I met you, but I see it now and I see him in me. Jack if I told you, you wouldn't want to have any sort of relation to me."

"Stop saying that Scarlett!" yelled Jack as he crushed me against him. The arm that was around my shoulder had fallen to rest around my waist and tugged me against his strong frame. "I like you for you! Not your father. "

I looked up at his face, searching his eyes, "Do you really mean that?"

"Of course," he said and I could see that he was telling the truth.

"So if I told you then you wouldn't think of me any different?" I asked.

"I promise Scarlett. I like you for you. Your father doesn't define who you are," said Jack with a small smile as he rested his forehead against mine.

"Okay. I'll tell you. Just let me have twenty four hours so I can figure out what to say."

"Or you just tell me his name now and get it over with," said Jack with his best award winning smile. Obviously an attempt to butter me up.

I laughed and smiled up at him,"Not in this life time. I chose to procrastinate."

Jack whined and I rolled my eyes playfully. This boy that I've come to adore, he really is my best friend. He listens but keeps things light and fun and I loved that about him. Everything about him makes me smile. In his distraction, I kissed his nose, promptly shutting him up.

"You'll find out tomorrow and that is final, Jacky,"

"Hey Newbie, nobody calls me Jacky," said Jack with a slight frown.

"Well, I just did, now is there anything else you want to ask me?" I asked with a smirk.

"Yes as a matter of fact there is, will you come with me to the north pole tomorrow? The team wanted to get to know you."

I smiled, "Sure,I'll come."

And tomorrow did came much to fast. After Jack and I spoke for a while, I had gone to the bedroom to get some thinking done and found that at the end of the day it would be best if I simply laid my cards out on the table or so the saying goes. It would be the easiest way. I didn't really have another choice. I decided as sleep began to take over and Jack's arm around me, already asleep, that I would tell him after the meeting with the guardians.

To get to the pole Jack flew us there. I don't exactly know how he does it, especially because I chose to bring my axe and throwing knives today. I brought them out of impulse mostly and they were more or less just there in case of an emergency. I also decided to wear my black trench coat and a green t-shirt. I had tied my hair in a single french braid. I had noticed in the morning that my roots were starting to show and I'd have to touch that up with in the next couple of days. Before leaving the house I made sure to grab a couple of bobbie pins and put them in the pocket of my black pants.

The cold bit at my cheeks as we flew but I liked being close to Jack so the pros far out weighed the cons. I'm pretty sure Jack liked the flight as well because he stopped several times along the way to point out different sights or saying that, "I[he] can't concentrate on the sky when I'm[he's] kissing you[me]." That was definitely an added bonus for me as well.

Jack flew through a narrow port and it opened up to reveal what Jack said was North's workshop. It was full of toys and colours and many things I haven't seen before. There was so much to take in. There were so many noises I had never heard before and monsters whom I'd never seen in the pictures books I had been provided with as a child. They were massive and grey and were all together very good workers. Jack explained as we walk, him finally letting me down with a pout, that they were called yetis and they were North's workers. There were also small men with funny hats running around and Jack said that they were called elves. A term I immediately recognized from the books I had read, Lord of the rings more specifically but Jack explained that they were the most useless beings he had seen and that they were always at the wrong place. Namely that wrong place would be where we'd be trying to walk to next.

We soon came to a grand room with a globe in the center. I recognized the globe immediately because it was exactly like the one father had in the command room. North was there and so was Bunny, Tooth and Sandy. I smiled at the guardians and North threw up his arms in welcome like he had when we were in Australia, "Jack! Scarlett it is nice to see you! Trip went well?"

Jack smirked and I covered his mouth before he could speak and spoke for him saying, "The trip was great North!"

I removed my hand from over Jack's mouth when Jack huffed. Tooth quickly flew over and barreled me with questions at suck a speed that I couldn't keep up with. The only words that I was able to grasp was 'baby teeth' and that's about it.

"Tooth slow down," I said to the woman with a chuckle. She took in a deep breath and calmed down.

"We can't find your baby teeth and we've looked everywhere!" Exclaimed Tooth. I snook a glance over at Jack who was doing his best not to laugh and I cracked a smile.

"They were destroyed Tooth," I explained. Tooth all but fainted at the words.

"But they would have been so beautiful! And- And your memories!"

I rested my hand on her shoulder in an attempt to sooth her, "It's okay Tooth."

"It's okay?! Did you just say that it's okay? She said it was okay. This is not okay Scarlett!" Yelled Tooth. I'm not going to lie, watching the tooth fairy freak out was kind of hilarious in the sence that she was extremely over dramatic.

"It's not her fault, Tooth. Her father did it," Jack said as he finally decided to come to my rescue from the raging woman. Actually forget that. It really wasn't rescue because he then turned to me saying, "Speaking of fathers, don't forget our deal."

"Wouldn't dream of it," I said sarcastically.

"So, are you gonna tell me or not?" inquired Jack.

I patted the top of his head saying, "When we get home."

"Sheila?" said Bunny finally joining the conversation, "Can I talk to ya alone for a second?"

I looked at Jack quickly and then back at Bunny. I nodded and followed him out of the room and into a separate room with a desk in it and toys everywhere. I was looking around when Bunny spoke again, "Sheila, I wanted to apologize for yesterday."

I looked at Bunny and gave him a smile, "That's okay. I'm sorry too, Bunny."

"Thank ya, Scarlett. I'm sorry I doubted ya."

"Bunny, it's cool. Now lets get back in there before Jack brakes something," I said with a smile as I reached for the door knob.

"Frostbite, really likes ya, Sheila," said Bunny and I blushed.

"Yeah, I really like him too," I said softly more to myself then to Bunny and he chuckled.

"Then lets not keep the little bugger waiting," said Bunny. We made our way back to the globe room. When we entered the room everyone was lounging around. I immediately walked over to the desk where Jack was sitting. He looked upon my return.

"What did the easter Kangaroo want?" asked Jack.

I chuckled and corrected him as I took a seat beside him on the desk, "Bunny and we were apologizing to each other for being hostile towards one another yesterday."

"Oh well that's good then," said Jack with a smile as he took hold of my hand. Everyone sat around talking to one another in a sort of bonding session. We laughed and spoke about anything that really came to mind. Over all it was really just a joyous event and I was happy that the guardians accepted me. Tooth continuously calling me little sister to which I laughed and called her big sis. I really did feel like I was a part of the team and sitting here, beside Jack, made it even better. Everything was perfect and I had all that I could ever want. Friendship and well, I guess one could call it romance. Jack and I hadn't really discussed it. We were more taking it as it comes, but regardless, I was the happiest I'd even been in that moment.

Suddenly, a voice seemed to come out of nowhere and filled the room with it's loud and very familiar tone, "HUNTER BLACK!"


	19. Chapter 18 Coming quietly

Chapter 18: Coming quietly

Two thoughts came to mind when I heard that oh so familiar voice: Oh shit, being the first thought and I'm dead, being the second. The guardians hopped out of their seats with their weapons raised and ready to fight. From around us dark sand pooled up from the ground and molded together to form the guards. I took out my axe and stood ready to fight. I was not going back there just yet. I still had so much to see and I had Jack and the rest guardians. They were my friends and I trusted them. I couldn't leave them yet!

"I've come for something that belongs to me," came my father's deep voice. A guard suddenly charged straight for me and I froze. I didn't know what to do. I had never fought against the very things father claimed were there to protect me. As the horse neared I staggered back a couple of steps, finally regaining the ability to move and suddenly something whipped through the guard and it disintegrated back into the ground. I followed the object with my eyes to where I saw it stop at Bunny. Now that it had stopped moving I could clearly see that it was actually a boomerang. Interesting.

A war like cry suddenly filled the room and suddenly the guards were attacking us. At first I simply dodged them and ran as they tried to catch me but then I saw Jack struggling with multiple guards surrounding him and in that moment, I knew what I had to do. I fought off the guards with my axe and eventually threw it at a guard who was about to attack North from behind.

I didn't bother going to pick it up either. I simply pulled out my throwing knives and began slashing through the guards. I hated how I was hurting them, killing them but what other choice did I have. As the battle wore on I noticed a figure appear on top of the globe. I never really got much more than a glance at them because I was constantly being barreled by another guard. The fight continued for quite some time until I was down to my last two knives. I held them in a defensive position in my hands ready to slash at the next guard to attack me.

I hated what I was doing. I hated killing the things that have done nothing but protect me my entire life. So I made it a point to never attack them unless they came too close to me or one of my friends. That was the only exception.

Jack cried out as he was hit by one of the guards and I quickly rushed to his side and took out the guard. I covered him, giving him time to recover from the blow and pick up his staff. I slashed at another guard that came too close to us and wiped some sweat from my brow.

"Where are all of these guys coming from?!" yelled Jack as he sent out another frost attack, freezing a guard. I stayed quiet and visibly winced as my father's laughter filled the room.

The guards let up a bit as father spoke, "Did you miss me guardians?"

I looked up to where the voice was coming from and saw my father standing on top of the globe. So he was the figure that I saw while I was fighting. He looked awful although he attempted to look strong in front of the guardians. It made my heart shatter in my chest. All of this was my fault. I locked eyes with him and he smirked.

"Scarlett! Look out!" cried Jack as he froze a guard that was about to catch me. This brought me back into the fight and I began attacking the guards with a vengeance. I could see my friends growing tired and I wasn't far behind. I panted as I slashed through another guard and I heard North cry out as he was hit. I knew then that I didn't have any other choice. Father was never going to leave them alone until I gave myself up. I looked down at my knives, which along with my hands were covered in black sand. I looked back up at father and I knew what I had to do.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as I dropped my knives to the ground and all fighting seemed to stop. I made eye contact with father and he snapped his fingers to freeze the guards. I kept a strong look on my face as I the knives clashed noisily on to the ground. I could feel all eyes on me, but I ignored them. At this moment it was just father and I hopped that I would be able to bargain my way out of this but I knew that it was next to impossible. So, this was it then. This is the end. Of seeing the world. Of being free. Of being with Jack in our little cottage. This was the end of everything.

"Scarlett, what are you doing, Sheila?" yelled Bunny but I ignored him as I continued looking at father, who was smirking.

Father didn't miss a beat in asking, "So you're Scarlett now, are you?"

I ignored his question and spoke calmly, "Leave them out of this."

"Oh no Hunter or should I say Scarlett. I won't leave them out of this," said father with that stupid smirk on his face. So that's how he wanted to play it, fine! Two can play at this game.

"Well then, there goes my plans of coming quietly," I said sarcastically as I gave father a glare. Father laughed. It wasn't the laugh that I was use to. This one was filled with sarcasm and it sounded like nails on a chalk board.

"Come quietly? Hunter? Scarlett, what's going on?" asked Jack, but I ignored his questions as well. I knew that if I even looked at him, I would snap and that could go one of two ways. There was breaking down and crying or going on a murder rampage. It really could have gone both ways.

"Are you ready to give up this dream of yours and come home?" asked father who was also ignoring the guardians.

"No. I'm not going back to being locked up down there," I told him truthfully and gave the man a glare.

"Suit yourself," said father. He snapped his fingers again and in a second the guards were attacking us with a renewed vigor. I bent down quickly to snatch up my fallen knives and as I straightened up, slashed through the first of many guards. They came in fast waves and I struggled to keep up with them and I could tell that my friends were struggling as well. We kept up a pretty good front for a while but soon I could hear my friends as a guard would slash through them and their groans in pain. Tooth had a particularly bad hit which sent her flying.

Without thinking I cried out to the only force that could stop this madness, "Father, enough!"

"Father?!" yelled Jack. The waves of guards reduced considerably but there was still enough to keep us moving around.

"Oh, little Hunter here didn't tell you she was the daughter of your worst enemy? Well then I'll let her explain, by all means Hunter please tell us," sneered father. The guards had fallen back and I could feel all eyes bearing into me as I looked at the ground. The guilt had creeped back into my system and I didn't want to even face my friends. The silence in the room felt like it was choking me.

"I, look, I'm sorry I lied. I never meant for it to go this far!" I said as I finally was able to lift my eyes to face my friends. They all wore the same expression; disappointment, sadness and disgust. I couldn't stand to look at Jack.

"All this time, it was you?" asked Jack, his voice slowly raising with anger, "I could have died because of you! Why didn't you ever say anything?!"

I finally faced him and I saw his broken expression and it made me want to cry. I never wanted to hurt him. Finally after a moment to gather myself and steel my emotions, I answered, "I didn't have any other choice, but I was going to tell you. Really, I was. Remember the promise we made?"

The desperation in my voice was clear and I was struggling to hold myself together. Jack's face twisted into that of anger and he shouted, "Oh, you were going to tell me? Or were you going to keep lying?"

"No, I wasn't going to lie! I swear!" I said desperately.

"So Hunter, are you going to show them what you really look like?" asked father from beside me. When had he moved from the top of the globe? The guardians suddenly lifted their weapons in our direction and I looked at the floor again. I felt father brush some of the hair that had fallen out of my braid behind my ear. I sighed and switched my knives so that I held them in one hand and lifted the other up to my eyes and took out the contacts to reveal my natural yellow eyes. Just like father's.

"And your hair?" asked father.

"I dyed it black," I said softly. I still hadn't lifted my eyes from the ground.

"Obviously, your roots are showing darling," said father and I stayed quiet.

"All of the bottles in the bathroom," said Jack quietly with realization. I nodded.

"Hair dye and contact fluid," I said softly, confirming his thoughts.

"Good girl. Now come home," commanded father. I knew that I couldn't fight him. I felt the shadows beginning to surrounding us. In that moment I felt fear like I'd never felt it before. I was never going to see my friends again and they hated me. No more straight to the point Bunny. No more bubbly Tooth. No more Jack. I chocked back a sob that wanted so desperately to leave my throat. Jack probably hates me now.

I looked up and saw the disappointed looks of my friends. Sandy reached out an arm as if to come save me and I shook my head at him, telling him with out words that it was useless. Besides, North had stuck out his hand in front of the small man to stop him as well. In the last few moments that I had, I looked at Jack and saw his broken expression and tears threatening to fall as he watched. He was still scowling at me when the dark sand was beginning to block my view. I could tell that at this very moment Jack hated me and there was nothing I could do about it. Just as our eyes locked a tear trickled down my cheek and I closed my eyes. I wanted the last thing that I would see of them to be him and only him.

Then the darkness completely consumed me, and father and I were gone from the workshop to be teleported back to the lair.

**A/N: so the schedule for this story is pretty much out the window at this point because some days I'm extremely productive and others I'm not. Therefore chapters will come out every 4 days when Im not as productive and when I am productive some time between the four days. So you guys can always be assured that you'll get a chapter at some point between every four days :) **


	20. Chapter 19: Waking up

Chapter 19: Waking up

The darkness fell away from my vision and I felt my feet touch the floor. I let my face hold no emotion despite the fact that I wanted to cry. How had everything fallen apart so quickly? I opened my eyes to see that we were back in the forest at home. I could hear panting and I assumed it was father's. I looked around the woods and then finally at the hole in the ground that was the entrance towards what was once my home. Everything seemed so much darker now.

"Now that you've had your fun Hunter, get in the lair," commanded Father as he stepped into my view.

"No," I responded in monotone. I wasn't really watching him or paying much attention to anything for that matter. I felt numb. So numb. Jack hates me. I couldn't really grasp much more of anything else from my frazzled mind.

"This is not negotiable Hunter. Get in the lair, NOW!" commanded father as he grabbed my left arm. His touch ignited a spark in me and I slashed out at him with the knives in my hand. I yanked at my left arm as I brought down the knives in my right. He let go and stumbled away from me as I took several steps back to create space between us. I could feel my anger burning white-hot in my veins at the sight of that man. It was his fault Jack hated me.

"Do not touch me," I said venomously. Father seemed shocked for a moment before he began laughing.

"Oh, look at you! You think you know so much, don't you Hunter. Little Hunter outside for a month and now you think that you can fight me? You are my daughter, whether you like it or not Hunter, now I will not tell you again, get in the lair," said father with a dark expression. I was terrified because I had never seem him act so coldly towards me. I think that he sensed my fear because he began laughing, but his demeanor changed to a concerned and softer one as he said, "You actually believed that they liked you? That they accepted you? They just kept you around because you could see them. Look at Bunnymund, he hated you."

I looked down at the ground and tears welled up in my eyes. I was so scared and confused. why was all of this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this? His words were spoken so genuinely that I wasn't sure what to believe. Bunny did show proof of what father was saying. His hostility while coming to get Jack yesterday and the glare he gave me when father was beside me added towards what must have been the truth. They hated me. Father was right. My mind trailed off to Jack. He didn't use to hate me and neither did Tooth. No they liked me at one point. He was lying. Why was he saying this then?

"Hunter, come home. There is nothing left for you out here. Those supposed friends of yours, if they find you, Hunter, they could kill you darling. Come," said father softly. I felt my heart-break in two as I actually considered his offer. Until I realised that he was manipulating me. Twisting my fear of having my friends hate me to control me. I looked up quickly and registered his movements as he took a step towards me.

"You're wrong," I said as I took a step back. I was confused. How had everything fallen apart so quickly? Why was father doing this to me? Did my friends really hate me? They probably do hate me now but not before. Before they liked me. I was one of them. I know it and he was wrong.

"Hunter, please I'm only trying to protect you," said father a look of desperation on his face. However, I knew that it was fake. Well, not entirely but it was greatly played up in an attempt to make me feel guilty and go back with him. That was not happening.

"I've been doing fine without you, father. No one hurt me. Not even Jack or the guardians. It's your fault they hate me!" I yelled at him. I shook my head in a non-verbal attempt to tell him that I disapprove of him and what he was trying to do to me, "I'm not done living outside of your shadow yet."

I took several steps back and I was about to turn and sprint away when father spoke again, "You're done with me? Fine, but know that they won't accept you. Ever. They hate you, Hunter and you know exactly why. You're my daughter; Hunter Black and you lie to everyone you meet. Then you wonder why it blows up in your face. They will never forgive you."

I felt something in me snap and in that moment the only thing that I was able to register was the anger fueling my moves. I threw my knife at his head and it narrowly missed because he ducked. I charged at him as he straightened up, father or not, I don't appreciate people talking shit about me. He pulled an arm back as I was only a few feet away and threw his hand forward. By then it was too late for me. The ball of dark sand crashed into my stomach and sent me flying back. I remember a pain in my head as I collided with a tree and my father's solemn expression before my vision was rendered to black.

* * *

When I woke up, I found myself in my old room in father's lair. I groaned and raised a hand to my head. I felt a material covering my forehead and tried to remember the events leading up to the injury. Okay, Jack hates me. Father attempted to manipulate me and then I tried to fight him which led me to being tossed into a tree. Right. I remember now. I huffed and tried to figure out what to do next when I noticed a note on my bedside table.

On the front of the note was my father's neat, cursive hand writing with my name across the front. I wanted to crumple it up and ignore him but I knew better than that. Not reading his note could result in a punishment from father later on and that was not what I need at the moment. What I need is to find a way to get back out. I took in a deep breath and reached for the note.

**Hunter, when you awaken, come see me.**

Crap. I didn't want to face father. I had hoped that I could lock myself in my room for a couple of days to think of a plan to get my freedom back but of course, I knew that I would have to face him at some point. I got out of bed with some difficulty and spent a while getting ready. If I was to face father I would do so as if I were going to war. I had to assert myself and prove to him that I am good enough to live on my own. I mean, I did it for a month and I was perfectly fine, so whats a couple of years of travelling. Sure, I wanted to see Jack and the guardians again but I didn't know how I would go about patching things up.

That was another problem I would have to come up with a solution for before I'd leave the lair again. I sighed and walked up to my dresser when I noticed that I was still dressed in my clothes from before I passed out. I pulled open the drawer that contained my pants and saw that it was completely empty. I was confused where had my clothes gone? I opened the drawer that I kept my shirts in and saw that some of it had been cleaned out. That's when I figured out what father had done. He had removed all clothes that I could potentially wear to get out. This left only dresses. Dresses where much less common than pants in the world these days and would make me easier to spot should I leave. He's much smarter than what I give him credit for.

I decided that it was best that I'd get a move on and picked out a simple black dress that fell just above my knees. I let my hair fall in its cascading curls as oppose to the braids that I always wear and I wore a shade of blood-red lipstick. I felt confident dressed like this. As if I was dressed to kill so to speak. I double checked myself in the mirror and looked at the bandages on my head. Wearily, I undid the bandaging and looked at the wound along the hairline on left side of my forehead. The cut wasnt very big overall but I knew that I would have to be careful around it. A light throb still emitted from where it resided and I noticed that the area around the cut was swollen and bruised a nasty shade of dark purple that was so dark that it was almost black. I didn't dare to touch my forehead but instead I took the role of gauze that father most likely left behind and wrapped up the dark purple and red injury again. I checked my room quickly for my axe before I remembered that it was still at the pole.

I wondered what they've done with the weapons that I had thrown and wondered if they were okay. I thought about Jack and wondered how he was doing. Was he okay? Does he miss me as much as I miss him? Did he hate me? I pushed those thoughts aside and went to open my door, grabbing my jacket on the way out. After all, the faster I talk to father, the faster I can come up with a plan to leave.

I opened the door and saw two of father's guards standing in wait on either side. I put on my jacket quickly before one of the guards turned to look at me. My face was immediately set into one of a warrior's; calm and emotionless. One of the horses neighed aggressively and I looked at it with an eery sence of calm. It looked frightened and I almost smiled as I took in its fear. Without missing a beat I said, "Take me to my father."

The walk was short as we made our way to the living room. A horse stood on either side of me as they escorted me down. For this I was thankful because it gave me time to think through what I was going to say to father. I wasn't really given enough time to come up with anything of use in the matter but one thing that I knew for certain was that I would have to lie and I hated myself for it.

We came to a stop in the door way of the room and father stood up from his chair in front of the fire-place. He had a smirk on his face as he looked me over and I did my best to look indifferent.

"Hunter, I'm glad to see that you're finally awake," said Father, "we have a lot to discus."

"Indeed we do, but first things first, I'm cold," I paused before continuing, "I've noticed that you took the liberty to clean out most of my wardrobe, including my leggings. I'd like a pair of them back if you please."

The request was simple but important. Having my leggings back means that I'd be about to move around more freely and thus help me in my attempt to leave. Father rolled his eyes then snapped his fingers and I knew that they would be back in my room waiting for me when I got there. I smirked inwardly. Excellent.

"Now then let's be on our way," I said with little enthusiasm. Father chuckled at presumably, my behavior and took a seat back in his chair and motioned for me to sit in my own as well. I crossed the room quickly and sat down, ready to get this over with.

"Shall we start with the subject of the guardians?" asked father.

"No," I said. I wasn't ready to talk about them and the fact that I was denying father showed that I was in control of the situation. I was certain that father picked up on this because he smirked. I continued talking, "No, I'd rather ask you a few questions to start-up this discussion."

"Very well," said father as he leaned back in his chair.

"How did you find me?" I asked. Father chuckled.


	21. Chapter 20 Discussion

Chapter 20: Discussion

"How did you find me?" I asked. Father chuckled darkly.

"You weren't very hard to find once the guard saw you in Miami," said Father. He leaned forward in his chair to continue, "from there I sent out a wave of guards out across the Northern part of America and it wasn't long until you were spotted with Frost."

"Is that why you attacked the guardians the first time?" I inquired.

"Yes," said Father, "I would have liked to build up my strength again before fighting them but it seemed that it was the only way for them to be weakened during this past fight as well would have been to fight them before hand."

"So you knew Jack would take me to the pole then?" I asked.

"Of course I knew! He's predictable, I just had to be patient," explained father. I locked my jaw to keep from speaking out against father because I knew that he was saying this not only because it was half true but to get a rise out of me.

"Why didn't you simply take me back instead of fighting them first?" I asked after a moment.

"That is none of your business. Do you have any other questions for me or is it my turn?" father replied in a bored tone. I felt my anger flare and took a deep breath to calm myself down.

"It is my business because it involves me. Therefore, I have the right to know," I said pointedly. Father seemed to have almost lost his cool for a moment before he caught himself and calmed himself down.

"The guards lost you and so, I couldn't find you. Besides, it never hurts to have the guardians weaker and I figured I would check if they had seen you," said father in a nonchalant manor.

"One last question," I said and father nodded, telling me to go on and that he was listening, "When I was out in the world the place where I was staying was about to celebrate something called thanks giving and I was wondering if we could still partake in this event? Apparently all that is done is people are thankful about stuff and they eat a feast with something called a turkey. I wanted to try this so called turkey."

The plan was simple really. Not much to it. The turkey was the distraction and a fairly good one at that. Father wouldn't suspect a thing. The main reason for this, of course, was for the art of resourcefulness. I would need a weapon to get out of here seeing as I will be escorted by the guards wherever I go. Therefore the knife that I would use to cut my turkey would be enough to help me disable the guards and get out.

"Very well. We can celebrate this thanksgiving," said Father after a moments consideration. Perfect.

"Could we do it tonight?" I asked. Father sighted and then nodded.

"Well then, that is all of my questions," I said as I leaned back in my chair and looked over my shoulder for a moment. I felt as though someone else was in the room, watching and listening. It certainly put me on edge but I ignored the feeling and focused on father.

"On to the matters around the guardians then," said Father and I nodded, letting him know that I understood where this was going. Father stood from his chair and at his full hight before he continued, "you are not to see them ever again Hunter. Is that clear?"

I locked my jaw to keep myself from talking again and nodded. I had to cooperate now if I wanted to get out again later when I will be healed.

"Furthermore, you are forbidden from leaving the lair ever again, unless I say otherwise. Understood?"

I continued to clench my teeth together and nodded once more. Speaking out would only result in a harsher punishment.

"Lastly, you are to be locked up in your room for the next one hundred years. Meals will be brought to you on schedule by a guard and you are not to leave without me knowing about it."

I nodded and Father turned to leave with a sinister chuckle. I relaxed my jaw which was my first mistake since seeing him because in that moment I spoke out, "So that's it then? I'm chained here with no choice? No say in anything?"

Father turned around sharply, "I do what I have to, to keep you safe."

"Keep me safe? This isn't keeping me safe. This is keeping me for yourself so that you can feel safe! You've been terrified of losing me since mom died! I can practically smell how fearful you are of me moving out and living my own life," my second mistake.

"You know nothing, Hunter," said father with a growl. He took several steps forward and stopped in front of where I was sitting and used his hight to intimidate me. I felt my eyes go wide with fear and father continued, "Your mother died at the hands of the guardians! She, like you, was caught in the cross fire of this feud and we ended up losing her because of them. You might not realise it but this is our only choice to insure your safety. I'll not lose you too. Now, I have business to attend to with a certain Jack Frost."

Father turned to walk away and I stood, "Don't you dare hurt him or I swear-"

"You swear what? To run away again? I have re-enforced security around you. You can't do anything," said father as he walked out of the living room. I sank back in my chair, now I had to get out. Leaving now would be impossible. I had no way of fending myself off against the guards and any other sort of attacker. I'd have to wait until tonight to get out and find Jack. I hoped that he would be okay until I would be able to find him.

I sat there with my head in my hands for a long time just trying to come up with a clever way to get out of this situation. I didn't want to fight father but I know that I had to if I wanted my friends to be safe. My opinion on the guardians had not changed because of the behavior I had seen them demonstrate while I was with them. Besides, Father has lied to me before so his story about mother could have just been that, a story. Regardless, I didn't want fighting on either side. My father's side nor the guardians. Therefore, I had to warn the guardians about father and I had to find a way to get father to leave them alone so we could all live in peace. I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut. I wasn't cut out for this.

I couldn't figure out a plan that could be executed without any flaws. The only way to get this to work would be to take things one at a time and go with the flow. I had to relax and take things as they come if I wanted this to work. I finally came to the decision to leave as soon as the guards handed me my dinner. The knife would hopefully be there and I could use it to get out.

The question that everything came down to, however, was what would I do if no knife was provided? I thought about the various things in my room that I could use to help me leave. A wooden chair and some books. Sure, I could break the chair and try to use that but it wouldn't be of very much use. Books would also be fairly useless in that situation. My best bet would honestly be to out run the guards and try to make it to the weapons room. Of course this wouldn't work either because the weapons room is probably guarded now and I can't out run a horse.

I sighed and looked up, seeing both guards standing in wait beside the door. I stood up wearily and allowed them to escort me back to my room. I'd simply cross that bridge when I get there. The walk back seemed to last only a second and the time that followed seemed like I could have been in there for days. I was tired of sitting around. I wanted to get something done.

The leggings that I requested from father were waiting for me when I got back to my room and it only took a moment for me to slip them on. I was now completely dressed in black with my black leggings, black dress and black coat. Now, I could blend in the shadows more easily and I was ready to get out of here. I just had to get the knife and go. I wondered about Jack as I waited and worried about whether or not father has made a move to hurt him yet. I sincerely hoped that he hadn't yet and that Jack was still okay.

I hated all of this uncertainty and it doesn't help that I can't do anything about it. I just want to help my friends and then live my own life. Is that so much to ask for? I sighed and did my best to numb my mind. Over thinking at this point could be dangerous because I can start second guessing myself and that is not what I need right now.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang at my door and I ran up to it and threw it open. In the door way was a guard carrying a tray of food and most importantly a knife. I smiled wickedly as I pointed to my desk, telling the guard without words to set the tray down there. I stood to the side to let the guard walk in and grabbed the stake knife as it began to walk by. A sinister smile made its way to my lips as I raised the knife and got ready to plunge it into the guard. Show time.


	22. Chapter 21: Running

Chapter 21: Running

I drove the stake knife into the guards neck and as the tray of food clattered to the floor, it disintegrated. Moving quickly, I stabbed the guard on the left side of my door before pulling it out and plunging it into the guard standing on the right side before it could do anything. I didn't bother to attempt to move the sand piles into my room because I knew that if father came down and saw that they weren't there in general, that he would assume that I had gotten out again. So in all honesty, it's faster for me to simply leave the piles of sand there and start running.

Sprinting down the corridors was only the start. Guards were lined up almost everywhere and more often than not I had to kill them in order to continue making my way to the only exit in this entire lair, through the command room. The sprint felt longer and more dangerous than the other times that I had come this way and maybe it was because I was being more risky about things. I didn't have half of a plan in mind as to what I was going to do if I was even able to get out. If I do get caught, I assuming that either the guardians, myself or all of us would suffer because of it. Another big risk factor is the fact that Jack's life could be on the line right now.

As I came upon the command room I was surprised to find it empty. In all honesty, I wasn't really sure what to expect upon entering the room. I slipped out easily and found that once I was outside the lair and took a second to catch my breath that my head was spinning.

I stammered over to a tree and used it to help me stay up right. I lifted the hand that wasn't holding the knife up to my forehead and winced when it brushed over the injury. Another disadvantage was that right there. I was injured and I know that at one point if I'm not careful it will get the better of me. This could result in the guards finding me quicker. I'd have to avoid doing a lot of quick movement if possible.

I took in a deep breath as the world finally stopped spinning and exhaled quickly. With a bit of effort I let go of the tree and began jogging in a random direction. The forest was starting to become dark as the sun was about to set at any moment. As I wove around in between the trees, I noticed that it was considerably colder here and the tree's leaves were different shades of yellow, red and orange. If I wasn't so pressed to get away and find Jack, I'm certain that I would have stopped right were I was and sat down to admire the beauty. The only difference was that I was press to find Jack and therefore, I couldn't stop to admire the trees.

I had been jogging for quite some time before I heard the faint neighing of the guards. They were still pretty far behind me and I knew that they would catch up soon. I increased my speed as I ran through the trees and for the first time, I was thankful that I spent so much time training before leaving the first time. However, no matter how much stamina I have and no matter how fast I run, it isn't possible for me, a half human, to out run a horse.

I head a neigh, much closer this time and took a moment to look over my shoulder. That was a mistake seeing as no sooner had I finished observing behind me had I run into something quite hard. The force of my running knocked me off my feet and unto the hard ground. A groan erupted from the thing that I ran into as well and I'm sure that with the speed that I was running I probably knocked them down as well.

I landed weirdly on the forest floor and found my head spinning and throbbing once more. It also didn't help that I stood up quickly which caused me to stubble back a couple of steps as I attempted to reorient myself. I grabbed onto a tree truck for support and lightly touched a hand up to my bandaged wound. It hurt badly and I decided it was time to look at the thing that I crashed into.

All of the air escaped my lungs and I felt my eyes grow wide. Everything seemed so much more distant as I looked him over quickly and in what was an almost scared tone I said, "Jack."

He was watching me with concern and anger covering his features. I drew in a breath and waited for him to say something. Anything. I lowered my hand slowly from where it was touching the bandages around my wound. Finally, he breathed out a quiet, "Scarlett."

I felt like a deer caught in the headlights. I was absolutely terrified. As happy as I was to find him, I was terrified of what he would do. Did he hate me? He was clearly angry but he still looked as broken as he did when I had to leave him. Would he attack me? As much as father claimed that he was predictable, I'd have to disagree. Jack was full of surprises and I had no idea what he would do next.

It was then that I remembered why I got out in the first place and why I was running. I clenched my hands into fists and looked over my shoulder quickly. My eye grew wide again as I felt the flesh of both of my palms. A neigh sounded in the distance and I began searching the forest floor frantically.

"Knife. Knife. Knife," I chanted as I spun in a circle while looking for my weapon. I must have dropped it when I collided with Jack. I heard the rapid drumming of the guards hoofs against the ground come closer and I finally spotted my knife. I picked it up quickly and spun it around so the I could defend myself and not a moment later was I plunging it into the sandy bodies of the guards.

The search party that had caught my trail was relatively small with only five guards making up the group but I didn't doubt for a second that there were more on their way and these were just to stall me. I defeated them quickly and turned around to face Jack.

"We have to go," I said as I reached for his hand to pulling him along with me. He used the wind however to push him back several feet and raised his staff at me. My eyes went wide with fear and I wasn't sure about what he would do next. I put my hands in the air in a position of surrender and I felt my heart hammering in my chest.

"Put the knife down," ordered Jack with his staff still raised. I looked the knife in my hand and then slowly bent down and placed it on the ground in front of me then took a step away from it. I knew that the next set of guards would catch us if we did go soon but at the current moment I was more worried about getting frozen to death.

"Jack," I started after a moments silence. I was going to say more but he cut me off.

"What are you doing here?" he asked angrily and readjusting his stance and tightening his grip on his staff.

"I was trying to find you before my father did," I explained quickly.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I didn't want to find out that you were hurt because of me. It's not fair to either of us," I explained as I moved my gaze to the ground. I heard a neigh in the distance and turned to look at Jack quickly, "Now we can sit here and wait for them to catch us or we can keep moving and I'll explain everything later."

"They're after you, why should I have to run away?" asked Jack stubbornly.

I groaned saying, "They aren't just after me! A good portion of them are after you! Now please, I'm sure that you don't want to deal with my father and either do I so just lower the staff and we'll go, okay?"

"How do I know that this isn't some trick?" asked Jack with the same stupid stubbornness.

"Would I trick you?" I asked him back.

"Well you didn't seem to mind lying last time," said Jack. His words stung but I ignored how much they hurt because I was more focused on getting us out of here. I never wanted to lie, I did what I had to do to try and protect myself.

"Well, not this time. I promise. You have to believe in me," I begged him. I could hear the guards coming closer and Jack's eyes went fuzzy for a moment before he finally nodded and lowered his staff. I took a step forward and slowly bent down saying, "I'm just getting my knife so that I can defend myself if they catch up to us, okay?"

Jack didn't say anything so I took his silence as a go ahead. I picked up my knife and walked up to him cautiously and with another neigh sounding out behind us, we took off sprinting. I looked over my shoulder and saw that they were catching up. Jack and I wove through the trees and I felt myself growing dizzy as we pushed on. I could hear the rapid beating of the guards hoof and I willed myself to keep going.

"They're catching up!" yelled Jack and I stole a glance at him quickly as we continued running. I heard Jack curse and suddenly his cold hands were around my waist and I was lifted up into the air.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled as we flew through the cold autumn air. I squirmed and tried to look at the frozen boy as he hugged me closer to him.

"Would you quite squirming, I'm getting us out of there," Jack yelled back at me over the wind. I looked behind us and saw that the guards were slowly falling behind. I quit squirming and closed my eyes. Everything was spinning again and my head was hurting again. Jack must have noticed that something was wrong because he asked, "Scarlett, are you okay?"

"Are the guards or what ever they are still on our tail?" I asked as I tried to concentrate on something other than the pounding in my head.

Jack was quiet for a moment before he said, "No. We lost 'em."

"Good," I said, "Then bring me to the ground."

Thankfully, Jack did as he was told and soon we were resting in a small cave to probably just protect me from the weather. Jack set me down on my feet and it wasn't even a second later that I was falling to the ground. My head was hurting so much and I grit my teeth as I focused on keeping my conciousness as the ground came closer and closer. Vaguely, I remembered the sound of metal clattering onto the ground and I figured that if anything it was probably my knife. In that last second before hitting the ground, Jack's arms wrapped around me once more and stopped me falling.

"Scarlett! Are you okay?" asked Jack as black started creeping into my vision and he helped me to stand up straight while my knees buckled from under me.


	23. Chapter 22 Working things out

Chapter 22: Working things out

"My head hurts. I just need to sit down for a while," I explained as Jack helped me walk over to one of the cave walls and helped me so that I could rest against it. The room slowly stopped spinning and I focused on my breathing to stop the nausea that was coming on. At this point I was certain that my injury was a bit more than just a bump on my head. It still throbbed harshly through the silence and I searched my brain for everything that I could remember about concussions. From what I remember I have most if not all of the symptoms revolving around concussions and I sighed. This was defiantly a disadvantage and I knew that it would take lots of quick thinking and strategy to evade father.

Suddenly, cold fingers were brushing against the material of the bandages. My breath was caught in my throat from the relief that the ice-cold hand gave when it passed over the bump on my head. I opened my eyes and tried for a moment to remember when I had closed them. Jack was crouched in front of me, eyes focused on the white bandages around my head and asked softly, "What did he do to you?"

"Nothing. It was my fault," I said quietly.

"What happened?" asked Jack as he continued looking at the bandages and running him hand over my injury. I raised my hand and caught his as it passed over the bruised and battered skin and held him there as I let a relieved sigh escape my lips at the numbing sensation that his skin provided against the throbbing pain.

"After father took me away, we ended up outside of the lair. Father ordered me to go in and I refused. We spoke and he hit a couple of nerves. It escalated to the point where we were waiting to see who would snap first and I did. I figured that since it was just him and me, no one else around, that I had a fair shot. I attacked him after some choice words from him but I was angry and I didn't stop before it was too late. He followed with an offensive attack of his own and then I collided with a tree," I explained. I bit my lip before looking down at my hands and saying, "It's not his fault really. I was careless and stupid. It was my fault. Everything's my fault and I'm sorry."

"Scarlett," he sigh and then corrected himself, "Hunter-"

"No," I cut him off, "call me Scarlett."

He sigh again and I knew that he was just as drained as I was. We were both emotionally and in my case physically drained. I could tell that we both wanted things to go back to the way that they use to be. I missed the care free times that Jack provided and the smiles but I'd settle for simply being around him. As long as I'm here with him, I'm happy. I only hoped that he felt the same way. I felt his thumb moving over the bump in a soothing motion and I looked up at him.

"Can I see it?" he asked. I nodded tentatively.

"Just, please don't be mad," I said meekly. Jack nodded and I felt him remove his hand and began working on removing the bandages. They slowly slipped away and I heard Jack take a sharp breath.

"Scarlett-" Jack began before I cut him off again. I knew that he was going to lecture me or say something that would make me feel regret. Whether it would be my regret over my actions to attack father or regret not telling him of my true identity.

"I'm tired, Jack. Please not now," I said with some desperation and in truth I would have let him continue but I was exhausted and aching. My eyes began to droop and I saw Jack's worried face looking down at mine.

"Fine," said Jack after a moment. He sighed and then took the bandage and began wrapping up my head carefully. As he finished, I saw him getting ready to stand up and despite my drowsiness and the pain that was coursing through my aching muscles and head, I reached out for his hand.

As I took hold of it, he looked back at me and I spoke, "Please don't go."

He seemed to contemplate it for a moment before taking a seat beside me. He placed his staff beside him and relaxed with his back resting against the wall. There was a tense silence and despite how tired I felt, which I linked to the constant movement and having a concussion, I decided to speak, "I'm sorry."

Jack stayed silent and I felt the guilt of my past actions seeping through me. I needed to say this. I didn't have another choice. The stress brough on me because of my guilt won't help anyone. Especially now. Stress takes up too much focus in the brain and if I was to evade father with the disadvantage on my end by having an injury, than I couldn't have anything holding me back. This includes stress and the guilt was causing my stress. If we were going to be successful, I had to get this off my chest, "I'm sorry, Jack. I never wanted to lie and I did want to tell you but you have to think about it from my perspective. If I told you, I knew that this would happen."

"From your perspective? What about my perspective? Wouldn't you rather know that you were dating your enemy's daughter. I never asked for this," said Jack angrily.

"Neither did I! I can't help whose name I was born under," I said bitterly. Jack sighed. I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before saying, "Why don't we start again? Hi, I'm Hunter Black, but I prefer the name Scarlett. My father is Pitch Black and my mom was a human. I like reading and I'm handy with an axe."

I held my hand out to shake and Jack took it with a roll of his eyes and said with a slight sarcastic tone, "Jack Frost. I died and now I am the personification of winter."

"This isn't working for me," I said blankly as I let go of his hand. I thought starting over would help but we were in too deep.

"Yeah. Me too," said Jack.

"So how do we fix this then?" I asked quietly.

"You can start by telling me the truth."

"Okay. Sounds fair. Where do I start? Well, you know my real name and you know who my father is. I mostly lied about my relationship to him for the meer fact that he is the guardians enemy number one. Therefore, making me the perfect way to get back at him or something. As you already know, my eyes are actually yellow like his and not blue. I used those to throw him off longer should a guard have seen me and my hair is dyed black although the real colour is auburn. I believe that that's it for lies," I explained. Jack was silent and I looked over at him, "What now?"

"I don't know," said Jack as he ran a hand through his hair. I felt my breath get caught in my throat. He was beautiful. I wanted to reach a hand out and touch him but I think that simply being here is almost too much for him. So I reluctantly stayed put. There was a moment of silence. Why was this so hard? I got that feeling of being watched again and looked around my surroundings. When I saw that no one was there, I tried to strike up another conversation with Jack.

"Okay, well how about we just talk then?" I asked and Jack sighed before giving me a small smile.

"Okay," he said with that same small smile. On the other hand, I was grinning like an idiot.

"You're smiling!" I pointed out happily. It immediately went away and replaced itself with a frown.

"Whatever, lets just talk about something," said Jack as he tried to play it off but I could tell that his beautiful smile was still there. His frown was only able to cover it up momentarily. After all, he can't be mad at me forever and that smile was proof of that. One way or another I was going to make him believe in me again. Make him see that I did what I had to and things would go back to normal.

"So, what were you doing in the forest?" I asked with a small smile still on my lips.

"I was taking a walk, " said Jack.

"Why here of all places?" I asked. In all honesty, I was confused. This forest wasn't all that special. There were plenty of other forests in the world, it couldn't be coincidence that he chose this exact one. Jack sighed at my stubbornness but his little smile was still there and I felt hopeful.

"My birth place isn't far from here," explained Jack, "The lake where I met you the first time actually."

"That was your birth place? No wonder you asked if I was new in the area," I said as I thought back to the first time we had met and made the connection the new information and the old one. I remembered how stunning that lake had looked too on that fateful morning and how Jack had taught me how to give a proper handshake. I felt like it was so long ago because it sort of was.

Jack gave a small chuckle and teased, "Yeah, I know the people there fairly well, but if I remember correctly you didn't talk for a good five minutes when we first met."

"In my defence that was the first time I had ever had contact with anyone other than Father. I was still trying to get over the fact that you were not an enemy," I said with a cheeky smile.

Jack chuckled again and said without thinking, "Yeah, I could tell that you were falling for these good looks too."

"Don't get cocky now," I warned with a laugh.

"Wouldn't dream of it," said Jack with that small, amazing smile. Although it was more of a smirk. It still filled me with hope that things would return back to normal and Jack would slowly forgive me. In fact, I think that things already were.

**A/N: sorry this chapter was so short but I've got a lot of things due for school at the moment but I promise that the next few will, cross your fingers, be longer. By the way I love you all and a big thank you to all of my reviewers, readers, followers, and any other "ers" out there that I missed lol! Also im sorry this chapter is so late we had a huge power outage do to a storm that blew in last two nights ago. We were without electricity until around 6 o clock om today and for the first four hours without power we were bailing buckets of water out of our sub pump well so that our basement wouldn't flood as we waited for the back up generator to come (a family friend was bringing it over). So ya that was our situation for the last 48 hours and without power, theres no internet and therefore I couldn't post like I wanted to. But anyways here it is now and once again im so sorry that it's late!**

**~Juliet H.**


	24. Chapter 23: night fall to day break

Chapter 23: Night Fall, day break and the conversations in between

We talked for hours and slowly I felt myself growing tired. The sun had long since gone down and I felt myself become increasingly cold. My jacket and dress were doing nothing to help and my leggings weren't that much warmer either. But if I was able to rough it one night in the cold arctic tundra of Canada then I could rough it one night in a random forest. As Jack and I became more and more comfortable with each other, Jack took notice of my shivering and took off his hoodie.

"What are you doing?" I asked as he drapped it over me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me against him.

"Trying to keep you warm," answered Jack with that same irresistible small smile.

"Don't you need it?" I asked as I lifted it a bit.

Jack sent me a smirk, "I bring winter remember?"

"Right, sorry," I looked down and toyed with the soft piece of clothing and said, "If you need it though, let me know and I'll give it back. I can handle one night of roughing it."

Jack chuckled and said, "I know you can. I just don't want you to have to do that."

I smiled at him. He really was great. I felt so lucky to have him here with me and smiling. I don't really know what I'd have done if Jack hadn't listened to me earlier, but I was thankful that he did. I know for a fact that I won't let father hurt him. Not now. Not ever. Jack was important to me and if father couldn't accept that then I'd have to make him. There had to be a way for me to still be with Jack while still maintaining a good relationship with father.

I thought about my mother for a moment. Father said that she had been in the position that I was in but I suppose that being around for many years longer than her human life could be an advantage for me. I don't know how much of an advantage it would be if I had to fight father again but I would like to think that when the time comes, I would be able to surpass mother and bring about peace for each of the parties involved in this feud. There was the guardians, whom I would need to gain the approval of first. Jack seemed like he was slowly accepting me again but it was the other guardians that I was mostly concerned about. Furthermore, there was father's side of the feud that I would need to appease next. This in itself will be a challenge and I only hoped that when it came down to it that I would be successful. Then finally, there was my side of the feud. Where I would have to either eliminate myself from the equation completely or I'd have to add myself to both sides of the equation or make a compromise between the two sides.

I knew that it would be hard and it would take some time. Things like this are delicate and they require that the utter most thought be put into it. While on the other hand over thinking and working on only a single solution would run me into a metaphorical brick wall. I had to widen my perspective and think about the situations that I could run into from many different angles. One wrong move and I'm done.

I pulled away from Jack for a moment. Jack protested until he seemed to understand what I was doing. I lifted up the bright blue hoodie and being careful with my injury, slipped it on. I instantly felt warmer with it on and laughed as I tugged it on completely. Jack's hoodie was almost as long as my dress on me and I turned back to face the hoodie's owner only to see him smiling broadly at me.

"Looks good," said Jack as his smile became his signature smirk.

"It's as long as my dress!" I exclaimed as I tried to hide my embarrassment. After all, it was his hoodie that I was wearing and it was so soft.

"Well then maybe you should give me the dress and I'll wear that," said Jack with his joking smirk. I playfully hit his arm and vaguely noted how quickly things had pretty much gone back to normal. For a moment I wondered if Jack was actually keen on forgiving me and already had or if this was some sort of plot against me.

"Jack Frost! You naughty boy! Suggesting those types of things from a respectable young woman," I said in a scolding tone.

Jack's smirk grew as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders once more and wasted no time in bringing me close and whispering in my ear, "Well I do hold the record for being naughty."

I felt a blush creep up to my cheeks as Jack pulled away with a satisfied smirk. I tried to find the right words as Jack began laughing at my loss of words. He clutched me close playfully saying, "It's okay Scarlett. You aren't the first girl to get flustered while in my presence.'"

"What did I say about getting cocky?" I said with a smirk as I finally found my voice again.

"Hey, I'm just stating a simple fact. Not getting cocky at all," said Jack with his award winning smile.

"Whatever you say," I teased. Jack pouted momentarily and I let out a laugh. There was a moment of silence that followed my laughter and I looked up at Jack to see him looking at his lap with a sadness on his features. Had I gone too far? I raised my hand and had to pull back the sleeve to actually see it and rested it on his cheek, "Jack? i'm sorry did I take it too far? I was just joking. You're not cocky at all."

Jack suddenly looked at me with a satisfied smirk again and said, "Aw, you do care."

I rolled my eyes as I caught onto his joke and smiled softly saying, "When it comes to you, how could I not care. I don't think that it's possible. I mean, I'm out here right?"

Jack turned to me with a look of curiosity across his features, "How did you get out Scarlett?"

I sighed, "It's a long you sure that you wanna know?"

Jack brought his other hand to cup my cheek saying, "We have time."

I smiled and drew in a deep breath, "Okay. if you think your up to it, get comfortable and I'll tell you."

"Alright then, hold on a second," said Jack then suddenly, I felt him tugging on me and in the next moment I found myself laying my head on Jack's chest with said boy running his hands through my hair. It was soothing to say the least and I was thankful that we were lying down in a way that my injury was pressed against his cool skin, causing me to sigh happily. Jack ruffled my hair a bit at my happiness and said, "Now, I'm comfy. Go ahead."

I chuckled and toyed with the white material of Jack's shirt as I began talking, "It was pretty simple actually. I woke up. Was escorted to where my father was waiting for me and we had a little chat. I tricked him into giving me back some more movable clothing. Which is why I'm thankful to even have my leggings, let alone my jacket. I knew that I needed to get out. I couldn't leave things with you guys in the way that I had and I still want my freedom. I don't want to be tucked away under ground for the rest of my life. It isn't fair.

"So in order to get out I had to be a little creative. I asked father to celebrate thanksgiving and during our talk that follows he said that the guards were to give me my food, well, the knife wasn't just to cut a turkey. After some choice words from father including you, it was only a matter of time before I could get out. I managed to take out a few guards before making it outside. From there I picked a direction in the forest and ran. The guards must have either noticed that I was gone or they were the ones meant for you, but whatever the reason they began following me and then I ran into you. From there, well, you know the rest."

"So let me get this straight you left your father again for three reasons; you're freedom, the way you left things off with myself and the guardians and because of me?"asked Jack. His tone was actually quite calm. It was nice in the sense that I had no idea how he would have reacted to what I told him. I wasn't sure if he would have been disgusted with me for betraying father again or happy that I left again.

"Yes. My main focus was to get to you above everything else and especially before him. He never told me his plans with you and I didn't want you to get hurt because of me. It's not fair to you," I explained. I looked up at him to see the white haired boy looking down at me as well.

"You gave up your father for me?" asked Jack and I nodded

"I needed to make sure that you were and continue to be safe. You're important to me," I said with a smile.

"But he's your father," said Jack. I could see what he was doing. He was trying to force me into a wall. He's just waiting for the second that I tell him that it was all a lie and he's waiting to feel lonely again but I'm not going to do that for one reason. It's not true. I know now that I have everything in the open that I wouldn't lie to him. Not again. I don't ever want him to feel lonely again either. I don't want him to feel like how I felt during all of those years that I was under father's wing. Just stuck there dreaming about what it would be like to meet another person or have a friend. I never want Jack to feel like that ever again.

I sighed, "I know that he is my father, but he has to learn to let go. To accept that I am my own person and that I am capable of making my own decisions. I'm old enough now so I think that I have that right, but at the end of the day he is still my father. He is still the man that raised me for over a thousand years and I still do love him as my paternal figure. For that I can always be greatful because I know that everything he does for me he does out of love and I'm proud to say that I love him. However, just because I love him doesn't mean that I can't have my independance and it also doesn't mean that I can't disagree with him."

I finished talking and I waited for Jack to respond. Jack was still a wonderful mystery to me so I had no idea how he would take what I told him but I figured that telling the truth to him would be my best option. The silence in the cave was almost over powering so when Jack laughed it caught me off guard completely. I looked up at the boy and waited for his explanation to his laughter and as it died down he ruffled my hair again, "You're great. You know, Pitch is really lucky to have raised someone like you."

I smiled although I was still confused, "what do you mean?"

"What I mean is that you understand where you come from and the fact that you just go with it is great," said Jack with a goofy smile.

"Okay then," I said as I began to grasp onto what he was saying and in a way he was right. Just because my father was a bad man doesn't mean that I was going to dumb him and forget about everything that he taught me. This man was important to me and he was a big deal of my life for a long time and I didn't want to forget that. I was born and raised under his wing and although I'm moving forward and breaking away from him, I didn't want to forget where I came from. Not now. Not ever. No matter how 'evil' my father was. He is still my father.

I yawned and Jack gave an adorable chuckle and said, "Tired?"

"Extremely. This has been quite the eventful day," I said with a smirk.

Jack mirrored it and said, "Yeah, it has. Go to sleep, Scarlett and sleep well."

"You too," I said as I felt the gentle lull of sleep pulling at me as Jack ran his fingers through my hair. Sleep was coming on must more quickly than I anticipated and in my last few moments that I was fully conscious I said, "Tomorrow, I wanna go apologize to the other guardians."

"Okay. We'll go tomorrow," said Jack softly.

I smiled and just as sleep was taking me, I said, "Night Jack, love you."

I never heard his reply if he said anything because in the next few moments I was fast asleep.


	25. Chapter 24 Normal

Chapter 24: Normal

I woke up the next morning the same way I had fallen asleep last night. With Jack running his fingers through my hair and my head on his chest with my hand clutching at his shirt. I smiled as I snuggled closer to the cold boy and caused him to chuckle.

"Good morning," said Jack.

"Morning, " I responded as I took in his scent.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as he took my chin and tilted it so that I was looking at him.

"Much better now that you're here," i said with a smile. I wasn't just saying that either. I actually felt better both physically and mentally because he was here. His cold skin numbing the pain from my throbbing head and I felt better mentally because I knew for a fact that he was safe as oppose to the uncertainty that I would have been feeling if I would have still been in he lair. So, yes, I felt much better.

I looked down at myself and saw that I still wore Jack's hoodie. I smiled and played with the long sleeves. I felt Jack's muscles flex as he bent down to whisper in my ear, "I could get use to seeing you in blue."

He pulled away with a smirk and I looked down at the hoodie with a smirk of my own, "So could I. In fact, I'm keeping this."

Jack threw his head back as he laughed and I looked up at him with a a serious expression, "I'm being serious, Jack. You're not getting this back."

"Real funny, Scarlett," said Jack with a hint of sarcasm, "Come on. Give it back."

"No, sir. This wonderful piece of clothing is mine now," I said with a smirk.

"Scarlett-" started Jack before I shushed him and placed a hand firmly on his chest to keep him down as I propped myself up on one elbow. I looked over my shoulder at the cave's entrance and listened intently. I peeled the bright blue hoodie off of me quickly and then removed my black jacket. In the distance I could hear the steady drumming of a group of guards foot falls.

"Do you hear that?" I whispered to Jack quietly. Despite my hand being on his chest, he still moved and lifted himself onto his elbows as well.

"Yeah," responded Jack as he also looked at the cave's entrance.

"Get your staff. If all else fails, we fight," I whispered as I continued searching the cave's entrance incase I saw a guard. I felt Jack shift from under my hand and then felt his nearness as he moved closer to me. He rested his staff on my hip with the hook of the staff aimed at the cave's entrance. The guards foot falls grew louder and I turned to face Jack quickly, "Do you trust me?"

Jack looked away from the caves entrance and to my face for a moment before nodding. I smirked and said, "Good."

In that moment the guards footfalls were louder than ever and I bundled up Jack's hoodie and shoved it at him before taking my own black jacket and covering Jack's stark white form or at least, the lower half of his stark white form. Most of his torso was still showing because I was considerably shorter then him and therefore my trench coat covered only up to his waist.

"Scarlett?" said Jack in confusion and I shushed him again. Quickly I bent down and wrapped my arms around his larger form and covered as much of him as possible. It was in that moment that I remember the off white bandages on my head. I cursed inwardly and clutched myself closer to Jack in hopes to conceal us both into the shadows with all of the black that I was wearing.

The guards were walking past the cave and I felt Jack snuggle further into me. I held him close and waited anxiously for the guards to pass. I could feel my heart beat painfully quick in my chest and the beginnings of sweat forming on my forehead for nervousness. The seconds seem to take forever as they stood at the foot of the cave. I willed myself to blend into the shadows because after all, Pitch Black is my father and if there is something good that comes with being his daughter is knowing how to blend into the shadows.

Finally, the guards decided to keep moving and walked away. I made sure not to let go of Jack until I couldn't hear their neighs or footfalls anymore and let out the breath that I hadn't realised that I'd been hold. I allowed myself to relax and Jack and I slowly detangled ourselves from each other. We took a moment to let our brains catch up with our bodies as we sat up.

I looked up at the amazing white haired boy and as we made eye contact, we burst out laughing. It wasn't like a normal laugh in the sense of something funny had been spoken but instead it was a laugh to release nerves. It took us a couple of moments more to catch our breath and collect ourselves.

"That was intense," I commented as my laughter died down.

"Agreed!" said Jack as he pulled me in for a hug, "I thought that we were done for!"

I pulled away from him and pouted playfully, "Don't you trust me?"

"Nope," responded Jack just as playfully.

"Well, then excuse me as I go cry in a corner," I said dramatically causing Jack to laugh. I moved to stand and Jack wrapped his arms around my stomach, pulling me back down to let my back rest against his chest. I looked at Jack from over my shoulder and asked, "Yes?"

The question was more or less an invitation to see what he wanted or to see what he was thinking. Jack responded by saying happily, "So, what's the plan for today?"

"Okay first things first do you forgive me for not telling you who I am?" I asked.

"No. No, I don't Scarlett," said Jack sarcastically.

"Don't sass me boy," I warned playfully and Jack laughed. I got back down to business, "It looks like father's still after us but when I left he was pretty weak. So, I guess the next thing to do is talk to the other guardians and get them to understand that I don't and never have meant any harm."

"Sounds good to me," said Jack as he nuzzled into my hair, "where do we start?"

I chuckled, "Which guardian won't kill me on sight?"

Jack laughed as well and pulled away from my hair to rest his chin on my shoulder, "I'd say Sandy."

"Then we find Sandy first," I said with a smile. I tried once more to stand up but Jack still had his arms wrapped around my stomach and tightened his grip as I tried to move away, "Um, Jack?"

"Yes, Scarlett," came Jack's innocent reply.

"Let go?" I asked.

"Um, no," said Jack. I could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

"And why not?" I inquired.

"Because I'm comfortable."

"Comfortable?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes."

I drew in a deep breath, "Jack,"

He hummed in response.

"You're an idiot," I said with a chuckle as I tried once more to get out of his arms.

"Hey!" he yelled as he tightened his arms around me again. I couldn't shake the feeling of how things are finally getting back to normal between Jack and I. It made my heart soar and made me feel like maybe, just maybe, I can prove myself to the other guardians as well. Jack use one hand to ruffle my hair and promptly sent my curly hair flying into my face. Jack's laughter filled the cave and I found myself smiling despite my hair being unruly and everywhere.

"Thanks, Jack," I mumbled sarcastically as I attempted to bring my hair back and away from my face.

"You're welcome," he said happily as he purposefully ignored my sarcasm. I sighed and shook my head disapprovingly with a chuckle. When I was finally able to pull my hair back into a quick braid before Jack could do anything else to mess with it, Jack had taken to entertaining himself with blowing air at my ear.

"Jack," I whined as I let my head fall back against the annoying, yet amazing boy's shoulder.

"Alright, alright," said Jack as he surrendered and understood that if he continued to mess with me that I would either snap and punch him or scold him for wasting our time. He let me go finally although I immediately missed his cool skin holding me, not just because it was refreshing in a sense but because it was him. I figured, however, that we had to keep going and find Sandy which was fine by me.

I stood up only to find Jack's arms snaking back around my waist. Although the difference this was that he wasn't hugging me from behind. Instead, he was facing me and I looked up at him in surprise. How had he moved so quickly and how had he managed to put on his hoodie without me noticing? All of my thoughts were lost to however because he sent me one of his dazzling smiles and I completely lost my train of thought and he handed me my jacket with his free hand while keeping the other firmly around my waist. As soon as my jacket was on, Jack snaked his other arm back around my waist and a look of utter fondness crossed his features.

"Shouldnt i get my knife?" i asked quietly.

"I think you'll be fine," responded Jack,"do you trust me?"

I didnt hesitate for a moment as I answered, "Yes."

Carefully, I felt my feet lift off of the floor and Jack flew us out of the cave. My heart rate double as we flew higher into the air and my arms made their way around Jack's neck to further secure myself so that I wouldn't fall. The wind blew loudly as Jack flew us away from the forest where we had settled last night.

"So where do we start?" I asked over the wind.

"Let's try at the pole and if all else fails, we can at least talk to North," Jack yelled back over the wind.

"Are you sure about this?" I yelled back. I wasn't going to lie, North is huge and intimidating. So if something went wrong and North did attack me, I'd be screwed because I know that if he attack I wouldn't fight back. I don't think that I could attack the guardians even if I tried.

"Yeah," responded Jack, "It'll be fun."


	26. Chapter 25: Guards and Power

Chapter 25: Guards and Power

The hours flew by as Jack and I flew towards the pole. Flying so high in the atmosphere made it uncomfortably cold while we were flying which caused me to shiver. Every now and again we took breaks so that we could talk and we found that things really were back to normal. Well almost completely back to normal at least. As soon as I was set down on my feet, Jack would step away from me. Creating room between us. It was unnerving and I constantly felt like it was because I was doing something wrong. During one of our stops, I finally chose to ask him about it. As he set me down and took his step away I asked, "Why do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?" asked Jack as he tried to play the innocent card.

"Moving away from me like you can't stand to be near me," I said and tried to contain the sadness that the words brought me. I looked down at the forest floor and then back up at Jack. I took his awkward silence as his answer. That he really didn't want to be near me. It caused me to wonder then if he couldn't stand me so much how was he able to fly us around without a problem? I disregarded the thought saying, "Whatever. We should keep moving."

I began walking in the direction that we were meant to be heading and I hand only taken a couple of steps away from the boy when his hand caught my own. I looked at him with a steeled expression but I held his hand regardless. It took him a moment to full catch up to me and for us to keep walking. Jack looked down for a moment and then back up at me before saying, "You want the truth?"

I nodded my head as if to say yes and he took a deep breath before letting it out with a lopsided grin, "You're always shivering when I hold you. I wanted to give you a chance to warm up before we continued flying and because I'm cold I thought it would be best to stay away."

I raised and eyebrow in confusion. Seriously? That's why he's been keeping his distance? "Really? That's it?"

"Yeah. That's it," said Jack with a chuckle, "Well that and your eyes."

"My eyes?" I asked. See, I knew that there was another reason for his strange behaviour.

"Their brighter than the contacts," explained Jack and I rolled said eyes.

"Well, yeah. They are yellow, you know."

"That's not what I meant," said Jack as he squeezed my hand causing me to look up at him instead of the forest ahead. He took a second to stop and held a hand up to cup my cheek with a smile, "I meant that they're more expressive than when you had the contacts in. It's strange, but nice."

I felt a blush run up to my cheeks and I tried to keep my cool by saying, "Jack, um, shouldn't we, uh, keep moving?"

The white haired boy smirked and said, "Are you flustered, Scarlett?"

"Haha, real funny Jack," I said sarcastically in response to his pun as the blush deepened in colour.

"You know that it was funny but I swear that I can see a certain beautiful girl blushing," said Jack with a widening smirk.

"Well, it certainly isn't me who's blushing," I said as I could feel the heat radiating off of my cheeks. Gosh, this is embarrassing.

Jack took a step closer whispering, "Miss Scarlett, I think that you are."

"So what if I am?" I whispered back.

"It's tempting," said Jack as his eyes flickered down to look at my lips.

"Tempting?" I asked.

"Extremely," said Jack before he closed the distance between us and pressed our lips together. I sighed happily as I pressed up against him and wrapped my arms around his neck. Gosh, how I'd missed him. I missed his touch. His taste. His everything and now that I had that back I could really see how much I never wanted to let him go ever again.

His lips were cold on mine like how I remembered they were and it was amazing. His hands slid down and held my waist, bringing me even closer to his beautifully fridged body. I pulled my arms tighter around his neck in an attempt to bring that beautiful coldness closer. He was everything that I had and he was amazing.

We soon found that even as a pair of immortal beings that air's still a necessity and was the cause of us pulling apart panting. One of Jack's hands moved from my waist to my check where he ran his thumb over the skin in a soothing motion causing my smile to widen.

"I've missed you," said Jack as he rested his forehead on mine.

"Me too," I said as I pulled him closer to me so that our chests were touching. In the back of my mind I was nagged by the mission that we were on. I smiled at him one more time before saying, "We should keep going."

Jack groaned, "Why?"

"You know why," I said with a chuckle. He was absolutely adorable and I loved him for it.

"Why don't we stay here for a little bit longer?" he suggested as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. I pulled away from his arms with a playful smirk and took several steps back.

"How about this? If you catch me we can wait a little longer to meet the other guardians," I suggested. I saw the mischievous smirk cross his features.

"Better start running then," said Jack. The words had barely finished coming out when I had turned around and began running.

I laughed and yelled back, "Catch me if you can!"

I heard Jack laugh and I sprinted north away from him. I felt the adrenalin in my veins and laughed as I ran. I could hear Jack catching up to me as my feet moved me away from him. I panted as I continued running through the forest with a smile on my face. I took a moment to look behind me to see Jack was only a couple steps behind. I smiled and put up an extra burst of speed, but the effect was short lived as Jack wrapped his arms around my stomach and pulled us into a stop.

We were still panting hard when Jack whispered in my ear, "I caught you."

I turned around in his arms so that I could face him and said, "That you did."

I leaned in to kiss him when I heard the neigh of a guard in the distance. Jack heard it too and he froze on the spot. I brought my hand down to my hip slowly, cautiously and found nothing there. That's when I remembered that my axe was up at the pole with North. I pulled away from Jack to pat down my pockets before I remembered that we had left the knife that I took back in the cave. Crap. I looked up at Jack with worry.

"I don't have a weapon," I said in a shaky voice.

"I know, I know," said Jack, "I'll hold them off, you run."

It was in that moment that the guards came into view and pawed at the ground aggressively. The came in on all sides and left no room for me to escape.

"Too late now," I said as I took a step back and fell into a fighting stance with my fists balled, ready to fight. The horses walked closer making their circle even tighter. I scanned the forest floor quickly for something that I could use as a make shift weapon. When it comes to resourcefulness in battle forest and ruins are just about the greatest thing possible when a weapon is lost or in my case left behind.

I saw a rock about ten feet away from me that looked like it would be sharp enough to cut through the sand holding the guards together. The guards continued to take another step closer to us and I found myself itching to get closer to that rock and get away when a thought occurred to me.

"We can't let any get away," I told Jack as I realised the gravity of the situation, "they'll report it back to father and then we'd both be dead."

I pretty sure that Jack nodded response because he said nothing. Time seemed to slow down as I casted him a quick glance over and the guards moved forward. They came at us in a gallop and I felt the air around Jack and I become considerably cooler as Jack threw ice at the guards.

I moved out of the way of an on coming guard and saw that it continued to run at full speed at Jack. So that whom they were after. I sprinted out of the way of guards and worked my way towards the rock. The guards soon began coming in from all directions and Jack was in the air trying to take out as many as possible. The guards didn't let up in the slightest as Jack blasted more and more of them with his ice. If anything their attacks were even more desperate and harder to dodge.

By the time I had finally reached the rock I was panting hard and had multiple small cut on my arms and legs. I bent down just as a guard rushed me and I picked up the rock and stepped out of the way of its attack, bringing my hand down at the same time and letting the rock collide with its head. However, as I attacked this guard another one came up behind me and as I finished my own attack it bit down on the back of my jacket and lifted me off of my feet and into the air.

"Jack!" I yelled out as I struggled to get out of it's grasp. The hold that the guard had on me was sturdy and the front of my jacket was pressing up against my throat and almost choking me. I was absolutely terrified. I could see Jack struggling with the guards attacking him so in a desperate attempt to get free I craned my neck to look at the guard as I spoke angrily, "Put me down this instant!"

The guard looked terrified for a moment and surprisingly let me down. Once I was back on my feet, I looked wide eyed at the guard who seemed to almost be cowering in my presence. This had never happened before. The guards are only suppose to listen to father. I got an idea in my head and turned to a guard that was coming at me at full speed. I looked at it dead in the eye with anger still coursing through my veins because of the last guard trying to take me away.

"Stand down," I yelled at it and the guard stopped in its tracks and seemed to also be cowering just like the other guard. I noticed that several other guards had stopped and were looking around almost unsurely. Jack finished off the last of the guards that were in the air and flew down beside me. Without looking at him and without an ounce of mercy in my voice I spoke quietly to Jack, "Freeze 'em."

Jack complied and with in a moment all of the guards that had attacked us were no more than black sand and ice. I let out a breath that I hadn't realised that I had been holding and I found myself standing on shaky legs. I turned to face Jack with a relieved smile and he dropped his staff to give me a tight hug.

"Are you okay?" he asked in my ear. I nodded my head as I clung to him. He was my rock and was probably actually the only thing keeping me from falling over right now because I was shaking so bad.

"Yeah. Are you?" I asked. In truth I felt a bit dizzy and nauseous but I wasn't sure if it was from the fight or if it was from the concussion.

"Yeah," he breathed. He pulled back a bit and looked me over as I did the same to him. Blood trickled down from a scratch above his left eye brow. I raised a hand up to catch the droplets of blood as they streamed down his face.

With I smile I said, "Let's get you cleaned up."


	27. Chapter 26 North and Nursing

Chapter 26: North and Nursing

Jack carefully flew us to a town not too far away and we stopped at a drug store. I got the things that we would need and taking his hand led him over to a bench in a near by park. I sat Jack down and began looking through the shopping bag for the supplies that I had bought. I handed Jack the box containing the gauze and as he opened the box I pulled out the water bottles that I had taken.

"Can you rip a piece of gauze for me, Jack?" I asked as I unscrewed the cap from the water bottle. Jack easily ripped a fairly long strip of gauze that I then folded up a bit before wetting it a bit. I pressed the cool wet cloth to Jack's head wound and he hissed in pain. I began dabbing the wet gauze on the wound as I whispered, "sorry."

"It's okay," said Jack with a small smile. The bleeding had stopped and the cut wasn't too deep either. I had a feeling that it wouldn't scar. I used the wet gauze to wipe away the dried blood until all that was left was for Jack's cut to heal.

"It's stopped bleeding, but do you want me to wrap it up?" I asked softly.

"No, it's okay," said Jack, "Now it's your turn."

"My turn?" I asked.

"Trust me," said Jack, "Here."

He took my hand and guided me down to sit on the bench beside reached his hands up and started undoing the bandages around my head. The strips of white gauze slowly slipped away as I watched him. His lips were turned down into a frown and his eyebrows were brought together in discontentment. The last of the bandages slipped away and Jack reached down to grab my chin and pulled it closer to him. His eyes inspected my wound as his ice-cold breath tickled my face every time he breathed out.

"What's my damage?" I asked.

"Well," said Jack, "its healed a bit but its still a pretty dark bruise."

I nodded my head slightly in understanding. Jack took the newly bought gauze and ripped a piece. I watched quietly as he poured some water onto the fresh bandages and looked in wonder as he froze the water. He pressed the icy cloths on my wound and I sighed. It felt nice against the throbbing that had started up again while we were flying.

"Jack," I said quietly to get his attention. I averted my eyes down, not wanting to see his reaction to what i was about to tell him, "back there in the forest with the guards. Something happened."

"Are you okay?" asked Jack and I could feel his eyes sweeping over my body in worry as he looked for any cuts and such.

"I'm fine but," I paused unsure of myself. I took in a deep breath to clear my mind and spoke calmly saying, "but I was able to order them. I'm not suppose to be able to do that. I've never been able to do it before either."

"What do you mean?" asked Jack as he lifted my chin, forcing me to look at him. His eyebrows were pushed together in confusion and that horrible frown was still lingering on his beautiful lips.

"I mean, that I told the guard to put me down and it did! I yelled at the other guards to stop and they did, but it doesn't make sense. I'm not suppose to be able to do that. Father always said that I can't order them around because I'm part human," I explained, "They even seemed scared of me too."

Jack was quiet from a moment before chuckling, "Maybe it's because you look like Pitch and you scared them."

"But that still doesn't explain why they listened. I might look like him but I shouldn't be able to order them around. They only listen to father," I explained.

"Well maybe it's just in your blood," suggested Jack and I shook my head no while sighing.

"Maybe it was a fluke," I suggested as well. But if it wasn't a fluke what does that mean? I'm sure that if needed, I could use that skill to my advantage, but would it be the right thing to do. I sighed again, we'd just have to figure that out when it came time to do it. I looked up to see night-time approaching and took one last look over Jack to make sure that he wasn't bleeding any more before saying, "We should get going. It's almost night-time."

Jack sighed before smiling, "Alright. Let me just wrap you up."

It wasn't fifteen minutes before we were back up in the sky with my head freshly wrapped with the white bandages. The throbbing wasn't as much of an issue because of the icy clothe that acted to numb the pain. The flight ended up going much faster because we both wanted to get there before night fall. I was already exhausted from the events of the last two days and all that I wanted to do once I get up north is to sleep but things are never that easy. I'd have to convince two guardians that I was not the enemy. Convincing one guardian was a challenge in itself now convincing two at one time seemed impossible.

I began to shiver as we neared the pole and Jack tightened his grip on me to try and protect me from the cold. He whispered in my ear, "Are you okay? Do you want to take a break?"

I shook my head saying no and turned my head to look at him with a smile, "I'm fine. Lets keep going."

He still looked at me as if he was unsure and for a moment he averted his eyes to look down at the ground and I could see that he was contemplating flying either lower or not flying at all. So to try and convince him that I was okay, I gave him a quick peck on his cheek and the momentary free fall caused me to laugh as Jack stabilized us.

"I told you before, Scarlett. I can't concentrate on the sky when you're kissing me," said Jack with a chuckle as he brought us back up to altitude. I gave him a smirk as we resumed our flying and within what felt like moments we were flying through Jack's port and landing inside the heat of North's workshop. The heat was almost unbearable at first with enter a very heated location from the extreme cold we had been traveling in.

The globe room that we had landed in was empty and I suddenly found myself with a sinking feeling in my gut. What if North doesn't accept me anymore? What if he decides to attack me? What if the other guardians are here oo and they all attack me at once? I had no idea what to do and how to react. I had no way of defending myself other than Jack and my words. If I mess this up, things'll get real messy real soon and I was not up for that, but this was something that had to be done. To fight for my freedom I needed to make sure that I had not only allies but friends.

Jack held out his hand for me to take with a smile saying, "let's go."

I took his hand and he lead me to an elevator. It ran surprisingly smoothly and the door swung open at the bottom to ever a busy workshop with loud noises and vibrant colours. Workers ran every wish way with most carrying items that I've never seen before.I felt a sense of wonder as I wanted to reach a hand out and touch everything. See how they worked and what their purpose was. curiosity filled my veins as I took everything in. It was all so strange and new but luckily I had Jack there with me to keep me on track.

By the time we finally made it to a large wooden door, I was so entranced with the dynamics of the workshop that I wasn't scared at all. Jack knocked on the door and we heard a gruff voice say, "Come in."

Jack walked and I followed with the anxiety once again clogging my brain as I entered North's office. I let my eyes trail onto the floor and I heard the scraping of North's chair as he stood up. I looked at him to see his swords draw and ready and I found myself moving closer to Jack.

"What is she doing here?" Yelled North's booming voice. I winced at how loud it was and sank further into Jack hoping that he would understand that if I were to talk now, North would kill me. Jack would have to explain if I were to get anywhere with the guardians.

"North, North, she's on our side," explained Jack. Yup that'll totally get the raging man to put his swords down. Great going Jack. Now I'm sure to die.

"But she is Pitch's daughter. She could be spy!" yelled North. A spy, really? I took a step out from behind Jack but never let go of his hand.

"Sir, with all do respect-" I began.

"She saved my life," Jack spoke up valiantly and I breathed out with relief.

"She what? Why?" asked North turning towards me dangerously.

"I don't want you guys getting hurt so I escaped to come warn Jack and in the forest the guards caught up to us three times. They attacked us twice and the third time we went un noticed, but North you have to believe me. All I want is my freedom," I explained and gosh did I sound desperate. Not that I wasn't.

North was quiet for several moments before saying, "Jack, walk with me. You stay here."

I looked at Jack. I was terrified. I had no idea what North was going to do. Where Jack was unpredictable, North was many times worse. What was he going to do with Jack? Would Jack be in trouble because of me? I didn't want him to get hurt but upon seeing the look on his face I knew that I had to let him go. Slowly I let go of his hand and he nodded at me reassuringly and I nodded back, silently communicating that I understood.

I stepped out of the way as North walked by, swords still drawn and watched as he and Jack exited the room. I wandered around the room but didn't dare touch anything. I got that uncomfortable feeling of being watched again and I turned around to look for the source of the feeling to make it stop. As always, there wasn't anything ever there and I wondered if I was just getting paranoid or perhaps it was because I was so used to father's constant prying and watching over me that it felt weird to be watching after myself. I wasn't exactly sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing and I decided that it was best to just leave the feeling alone and focus on something else to keep me distracted.

Jack and North were gone for quite a while and I decided to pre-occupy myself but looking at an intricately designed doll when the door busted open. I looked up and saw Jack with North following behind him. I stayed glued to my spot and I was unsure of what to do or how to hold myself but when I saw the smile gracing North's face and Jack's slight frown, I was more then confused. I was worried. What had happened between them for the two to have pretty much swapped facial expressions?

Jack marched straight up to me and without so much as a saying a word and wrapped his arms around me much like what I had done on that day in the forest when we had first kissed. I hugged him back confused and looked up at North for some sort of explanation.

"I saw the footage," said Jack.

"Footage? What footage?" I asked as he pulled away. My eyebrows were pulled together in confusion and a frown graced my lips.

"North has footage on everyone to see if they're naughty or nice. He's been tracking you ever since your father took you back. You know those moments when you feel like someone is watching you? It's because North's magic is recording you," explained Jack. I felt my eyes widen in response. They already thought ill of father and I don't want that to worsen their hatred because father is being over protective to the point of manipulating of my fears to win me back. He just wants to keep his family safe but at the same time I still want to be free. So the clashing of our selfishness could make him seem even more like the bad guy that they thought him to be and I didn't want that.

"What did you guys see?" I asked worriedly.


	28. Chapter 27: Night time at North's

Chapter 27: Night time at North's

"We saw you and your father," said Jack and I felt my breath hitch in my throat as he continued to list off what he had seen, "North showed me the fight between you and him and then the agreement you made with him after you woke up. He also showed me the conversation that we had in the caves and finally, you in here just now."

I looked up at North and then back at Jack as he finally released me from his hug. North gave a hearty laughed and walked up behind Jack and reached around to place a hand on my shoulder saying, "Scarlett, it is good to have you back."

"Thanks North," I said tentatively, "and how did you know to call me Scarlett?"

North smiled and looked down at Jack who was also smiling at me and said, "Jack, here, told me that you didn't like Hunter."

I gave Jack a grateful smile while saying, "Yeah. He's right."

I took in a deep breath before saying, "Look, I know that father looks bad but he really isn't he's just protective. I just, I don't want you guys to hate him even more because of me."

"Scarlett the only reason we oppose your father is because of the kids. If he didn't hurt them, then we wouldn't have problem," explained North. I nodded in understanding. So the guardians hatred towards father was provoked by me. The new-found information actually helped me in feeling better about the situation. The room was quiet for a moment and then North straightened up, taking his hand off my shoulder and asked, "What will you do now?"

"Now," I said, "We're going to find Sandy to see if he'll accept me again."

North nodded thoughtfully,"Sandy is a good guardian. He will understand and you might be needing this for your journey."

North walked around his desk and opened a cupboard. He bent down and pulled out the knives that I had used to fight my father. I smiled widely as North also pulled out a knife belt and I quickly strapped it on around my waist. After I had finished placing my assortment of knives inside their respective sheaths in the belt I smiled up at North saying, "Thank you."

North chuckled, "You are welcome, Scarlett. Your axe is still upstairs wedged into floor boards and it is late. Do you two want to stay the night?"

My smile grew even wider. I had no idea how I had missed seeing the axe while Jack and I were in the globe room but I was happy regardless of the fact to be getting it back. I gave North one last smile before I took a hold of Jack's hand saying, "Yes please, North."

The large man chuckled, " Alright. I will get yetis to show you your roo-"

I was so excited and happy. I was almost like a child saying, "let's go find our room, Jack!"

I ran out of North's office feeling much better than when we first came in. He accepted me and understood what I wanted. He understood that I wasn't threat and forgave me for the lies that I told him. I was thankful that North was such a good friend and I could only hope that the others would be as forgiving as well.

Jack trailed behind me as we ran through the workshop and I turned back to face him over my shoulder as we ran, sending him a wide grin and saw that he also wore an adorable grin on his face as well. We made our way to the elevator and I could barely contain my happiness. Not only were things with Jack and I normal but so were things between North and I. Personally, I thought that he would be the hardest to sway when it came to the situation that we were in but as it turns out he was actually very understanding.

When we finally made it to the elevator I was smiling and panting with Jack beside me in a similar manner. As the elevator started moving up I threw my arms around Jack's neck triumphantly saying, "He trust me!"

Jack chuckled and wrapped his arms around my waist saying, "I know."

"And we're allowed to stay here!" I said happily.

"I Know!" said Jack with the same enthusiasm.

I pulled away from the hug only to tug him down again and kissed him. I could barely contain my happiness and Jack chuckled into the kiss but happily replied. Everything was finally looking up again and I knew that things could only get better. My one hope is that it'll be able to stay that way. I pulled away from him as the elevator came to a stop and pulled him back into the globe room.

"Okay, North said that it was up here," I mumbled to myself.

"Are we suppose to find our rooms?" asked Jack with a smirk.

"Pit stop," I responded as I turned in a circle to look for my long forgotten axe. Jack chuckled and I finally spotted it implanted into the floor next to the fireplace. I smiled a went to run up to it when Jack let go of my hand and used the wind to carry him over to the axe.

I gave him a questioning glance as he said, "I'll get it for you."

I smirked and watched as he wrapped his hands around the hilt of the axe. He gave it a tug and I chuckled as it stayed imbedded in the wooden floor. He looked up at me sheepishly and averted his gaze back down to my axe. He tugged at it again. This time with much more force and actually succeeded in pulling it out of the wood. Only to almost fall backwards from the force he had used but quickly regained his balance as I chuckled, saying, "My hero."

He walked up to me with a lopsided grin and laughed as he held out the axe for me as he bent down on one knee and bowed his head. It was as if I was royalty. I laughed at him softly before taking the axe.

"Thank you valiant knight," I said with a chuckle, "For rescuing my axe from the floor boards."

Jack stood with a smirk that I knew ment trouble, "This is the part where you ask what reward I want for returning your axe."

"No," I said defiantly for two reasons. One: I was capable of getting the axe myself. He chose to run up and get it. Two: I wasn't quite sure what he would want for his reward and his smirk was doing nothing to aid me in trusting in his mischievous ways.

"Please," said Jack with his smirk changing into his adorable smile. I sighed. Damn. He won this round.

"Fine," I said before I un enthusiastically muttered, "What can I offer you in reward for returning my axe?"

The smirk was back as he said, "How about a kiss?"

I chuckled and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek with a smirk. He groaned knowing that he did in fact get the kiss he requested just not on the part of his face that he wanted. I chuckled again as he took a hold of my hand, saying, "Pit stop's over."

He pulled me flush into him and lifted us a few feet into the air before speeding off down a hallway, carrying me with him. I let out a laugh as we speed through the hallways of North's home. We almost crashed into several yetis but Jack managed to keep us on track while I yelled back an apology for almost knocking them over. Jack's adorable laugh sounded every time the yetis would grumble back something incoherent towards us.

Finally Jack slowed down his speed until we were actually standing back on the ground in front of a dark brown door. On the door was carved a giant letter "G" which I assumed stands for guardian. Jack, with his arm resting around my hip, moved forward and turned the gold handle of the door to reveal a large room complete with a wardrobe of the same deep brown colour, a matching brown dresser, a bed big enough to fit two people, and even a simple brown arm-chair. The walls complimented the brown furniture by being painted a light tan colour and I must say, whom ever decorated this room had some serious sense of style.

Jack pulled me inside the room with a chuckle from where I was gaping at it in the hallway.

"This is your room," said Jack. I turned to him confused.

"You aren't going to stay," I asked. Jack chuckled and ruffled my hair.

"No, my room's just on the right of yours. Besides, can you imagine what North or lord forbid, Bunnymund would do to me if we shared a room?" Jack replied.

"Right, Bunny. I forgot about him," I said in almost a scared manner. I mean North had the monitors so he was never a real threat and I'm sure that Sandy is pretty easy-going when it comes to the situation because he reached out towards me when father was taking me away. Tooth, well im not sure how she'd react. She could go any which way but bunny, he's a fighter. So unless the others are there to restrain him or something I'm fairly certain that if Bunny so much as sees me in North's home I'm dead. If I'm seen cuddling Jack in my sleep I'm still dead and Jack would probably get hit in the head with a boomerang.

Jack chuckled, "I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Then we continue our search for Sandy, right?" I asked. Jack smiled down to me.

"Yeah. Goodnight, Scarlett," Said Jack as he kissed my forehead. I felt my cheeks begin to grow red with the blush that was making its way to my face.

"Goodnight, Jack," I said and despite my blush, I felt the need to one up Jack and his forehead kiss by latching on to his hoodie and planting a quick kiss on his lips. Jack seemed slightly dazed but smiled despite the fact and I pushed him away gently and closed my door saying with a chuckle, "See you in the morning."

I'm glad that I did close the door when I had because the blush that rested upon my cheeks was burning and it was also giving me a bit of a head ache. So I took the liberty of climbing into the plush bed and promptly falling asleep, not realising that Sandy was already at the pole delivering dreams to both Jack and I in our own respective rooms so that we wouldn't have to be away from each other as long.


	29. Chapter 28 Sandy and Tooth

Chapter 28: Sandy and Tooth

I woke up to the sound of someone knocking at my door. I groaned loudly in protest because I had been having a pleasant dream about father finally understanding my need for freedom. It was silent for a moment and for a second I though that I made up the noise but just as I was about to close my eyes and resume sleeping, the door opened just wide enough for Jack to peek his head through. Upon seeing me awake, he walked in and sat down on the edge of my bed with his smirk playing on his lips.

"Morning, Sunshine," he said in a teasing tone and I groaned. It was too early for this.

"Five more minutes," I said as I pulled the covers past my eyes and attempted to fall asleep again.

Jack chuckled, "Oh no, not this again. Remember the last time I tried to wake you up for something important."

"I don't think teaching me how to skate classifies on the same importance level as not being killed by the other guardians," I mumbled into my pillow. Jack chuckled and pulled on the blankets and succeeded in pulling them away. I curled up in a tighter ball to try and keep the heat that the lovely blankets where providing. I groaned again.

"Jack," I whined before finally unfolding from the ball that I had curled up into, "Alright, fine. I'm up."

Jack chuckled, "are you always this difficult to wake up?"

"Sometimes," I responded before I noticed that I was still in my black dress from a couple of days ago. It was torn in several spots along the bottom of the hem and there was a large hole in my leggings as well, which I assumed came from running through the forest. I was a mess and I looked up sheepishly at Jack, "You don't suppose that North would have some cloths that I could borrow, do you?"

Jack chuckled once more, "Probably. Come on, let's go ask."

As it turns out North did have some cloths for me which consisted of a pair of black pants and a green t-shirt. I was thankful that my jacket was still intact and threw that on top of the shirt. North also gave me a new pair of black boots as well to help complete the outfit. North had also taken the liberty of making a belt to hold my axe. With my multitude of weapons carefully attached to my person, I felt stronger. Before leaving, I also changed the gauze on my head and saw that the bruise and the bump were looking a lot better and I was glad that it no longer throbbed any more. I quickly braided my hair once more and with a good bye to North, Jack and I were on our way.

"Before you go," said North interrupting us as we were about to take off. North smiled and in his think russian accept said, "there is little friend here to see you."

North stepped to the side to reveal the small golden man that we were about to go off and find. Of course he was already here. Who else could have given me that dream last night? I smiled at Sandy and said, "Thank you."

The dream last night was proof that he already forgave me because it held all of themes that I was striving to obtain; freedom and acceptance. Sandy nodded his head as if saying you're welcome and I separated myself from Jack to give the small man a hug. I wasn't one for touching people, choosing to keep to myself because of all of the time that I spent alone as a kid but in this moment, it seemed like the best way to express my gratitude to the small man.

I should have known from the moment that he stepped forward to stop father from taking me away that he was always on my side and that even though I betrayed him, he understood that I never meant any harm. After all, you can't help who your born under. All that you can do is go with it. The guardians were born under the instructions of the man in the moon, where as I was born under my father's name and blood, but at the end of the day, I knew that Sandy understood that the only thing that you can do with family is learn to love them and carry on with your life. They can only drag you down as much as you let them.

Sandy returned my hug and I turned to North, "Thank you as well."

North laughed and clasped a hand on my shoulder, "It is pleasure."

I smiled up at him and then down at Sandy, suddenly feeling much more confident. Jack came up beside me saying, "Ready to go?"

I nodded as I turned to face him with a soft smile, "Who's first?"

Jack smirked, "The tooth fairy."

I nodded once more and gently wrapped my arms around Jack's neck. He wrapped his arms around my waist, taking care in holding his staff so that it didn't hit me as he tightened his grip on me and flew into the air. The arctic air was exceedingly cold not only because of the altitude that we were flying at or because of the time of year being around late October at this point but because the sun had yet to rise. I suppose that with it being so late in the year already and being so far north, the sun doesn't rise until much later in the day and sets very early.

The flight to the tooth palace was a cold and tiring one. We flew over the open ocean to asia where the palace resides. Jack began flying in between mountains until at last the palace was in sight. It was breath taking with golds and pinks showing on the outside of the structure. Tons of little humming bird type of creatures were entering and flying away from the place. I assumed that these were her helpers.

Jack flew us inside of the palace where I saw large pillars of the same colour as outside. They were beautifully decorated and I noticed that each pillar had little holes that wore covered with a gold plate and every now and then a little fairy would press one of the gold plates and a tube came out, where they then placed something inside and the tube slid back in the pillars.

"What are they doing?" I asked Jack.

"They're mini Tooth's so they're putting the teeth they collect inside of a container to keep the kids memories," explained Jack. He suddenly decided to change flight direction and we flew up higher in the cavern to where what looked like thousand mini tooth fairies were swarming around. When we finally got at the top of that pillar, I saw that it was actually Tooth shouting out instructions to her fairies. Jack was able to land on the pillar and set me down before Tooth noticed our arrival.

She gasped as she saw me and balled her fist, "What are you doing here, Black. The last time one of you was in here, my fairies and the teeth were stolen."

Jack took a step forward, "Tooth it's okay she's on our side.

"Father stole the teeth and fairies?" I asked quietly as I tried to remember if I knew anything about this happening. Distantly, I remembered the quiet sound of chirping lasting about a day or so but I remember father specifically telling me that it was nothing to worry about and that I should, as always, stay out of the command room. I was ignorant and now the Tooth Fairy had paid. I bowed my head and said, "I'm sorry."

"Well, you should be," said Tooth as she crossed her arms, "Now leave me and my fairies and my teeth alone."

"Tooth, please just hear me out," I begged and gosh it was embarrassing, "Look,I don't want to live my life locked up in some hole in the ground. So, I've run away. Twice. I love my father but he's controlling and manipulative. I can't live like that anymore. I don't mean you or your fairies or your teeth any harm. I just want my freedom and some friends. That's it."

Tooth seemed to contemplate what I had told her before speaking, "Have you spoken with North yet?"

I nodded,"Yes and Sandy as well. They both trust me, please Tooth, I don't want to hide anymore."

An arm snaked around my shoulders and beside me Jack spoke saying, "I trust her too."

I smiled up at Jack softly before returning my attention back to Tooth. I hated how I had to beg for her forgiveness but I know that in the end it would only benefit all of use, save for father. As my attention was now fully on Tooth, I noticed the smile that adorned her features.

"Alright then. If they forgive you, I do too," said Tooth happily and I let out a relieved smile.

"I'm sorry about everything that happened, big sis," I said and she laughed.

"Well little sis, if you pull any thing, you do know that things will end badly," said Tooth.

I nodded and said, "nothing is going to happen Tooth. I promise."

"So what are you going to do about Bunny?" asked the feathered woman.

"I don't know," I answered both truthfully and uneasily. Bunny will be the toughest to sway when it comes to believing where I stand in all of this. Mainly because he had trouble trusting me before but now that he knows that I am the daughter of the enemy, things will be a lot more difficult to get through to him.

"Well, good luck then Hunter," said Tooth and I grimaced at the name.

"Please call me Scarlett, Tooth," I said politely and the feathered woman smiled.

"Alright. Good luck Scarlett and let me know what happens with Bunny," she said happily. I wrapped my arms around Jacks neck and he waved at Tooth as I said a good-bye to her and then we were off flying as the sun began to once again set. Signaling the end of another day.

Jack and I flew for hours until we had once again arrived at the pole. In my confusion, I yelled over the racing wind, "Jack, what are we doing here?"

"The easter Kangaroo-"

"Bunny," I corrected.

"Will be a royal pain to convince. So I figured that we'd talk to him tomorrow. "

I yawned and said, "Sounds good."

As we touched down in North's workshop, I reached up and planted a kiss on Jack's cheek. As I pulled away, I smiled at him noting that my face way warming up as I blushed and I whispered, "Thank you, Jack."

He sent me a dizzying smile that made my heart beat faster in my chest as it turned to on of a more mischievous nature, "What are you thanking me for?"

"Everything," I replied as I all but melted in his arms. He was breath taking and amazing. I still can't believe that he's stuck by me after all that I've put us through but at the end of the day I suppose that's just brought us closer together.

"Well then you own me, don't you?" said Jack as the mischievous look seemed to consume his features.

I smirked, feeling the mischievousness sweeping into my own system, "I suppose so."

"Well then, I'm going to save what you will be owing me for a rainy day," said Jack as his signature smirk grazed his features. I yawned once more and Jack chuckled, "For now, you need to get some sleep."

I chuckled and began walking towards the rooms where Jack and I had stay the night before, "Well so do you. Come on."

Jack chuckled and caught up to me in a moment, then taking my hand in his. I looked down at our linked hands. My skin was greyer than his creamy white and I suppose it's because of father. I really did look like him, now that I think about it.

"Hey, Jack," I said, breaking our comfortable silence as we continued walking. He hummed in acknowledgement and I continued talking, "After Bunny trusts me again, I'd like to dye my hair back to its original colour. I'm tired of hiding. "

Jack's free hand reached down and pulled my chin so that I was now looking up at him, instead of our linked hands. He smiled softly, "Yeah, I'd like to see that. Although the black does look good."

I chuckled, "Thank you."

We came to a stop in front of the door to my room and I bit my lip before saying, "Well, um, goodnight."

"Goodnight, Scarlett," said Jack as he quickly pressed his lips against mine. I didn't even have time to return the kiss or control the blush that sprung up to my cheeks once more before Jack pulled away and walked to his room without looking back. This must have been payback for last night when I had done the same thing to him.

I bit my lip as I opened the door to my room and walk in, taking care in closing the door behind me as I tried to contain my giddy smile. That boy really was something different and I wouldn't have him any other way.

**A/N: for the guest reviewer asking about Scarlett's name, it's symbolism.**


	30. Chapter 29: the arrow

Chapter 29: The Arrow

I woke up early in the morning. I know this because Jack hadn't woken me up as he usually did when I over slept. That was the nice thing about Jack, he always he these cute little ways of letting me know that he was there. Whether it was the early wake up call or the lingering smell of him on my cloths, it always reminded me that he was there for me.

I detangled myself from the warm blankets of the bed, eager to see his wonderful smiling face. I stood up and stretched, feeling my bones pop into place before walking up to the mirror next to the dark brown wardrobe and looking myself over. I was surprised to see how refreshed I looked and I supposed that it was because I had been getting full nights of sleep and being around Jack was also an added bonus in having me in such a good mood.

My hair stuck out in every which direction and I rolled my eyes before taming it enough to put it into a french braid. I noticed as I fixed it up that the auburn roots were really starting to show against the black that I had dyed it. I was glad that it would be fixed hopefully by the end of the day. I took off the bandages off the wound as I fixed my hair and noticed that there was no longer a bump going along with the now thin and healing cut, as well as the fading bruise. The color had turned from a purple or almost black to an almost yellow color. Wasn't the prettiest thing to look at but I figured that it would be better if I let the wound air out.

The rest of me looked okay for the most part. Just some wrinkles on my shirt but otherwise, I was presentable. I took my weapons, which I had taken off before bed and placed them back around my waist. I finished off by putting the boots that North had given me yesterday, back on and taking one last look at the mirror. Considering the circumstances I didn't look completely awful and I smiled at my reflexion before walking out of the room and into the hallway.

I closed my door as I entered the hallway and made my way to the next room over. I raised my hand to knock on the door when it suddenly opened to reveal a still sleepy Jack. I chuckled at his hair which suck out in even more directions than his normal look. He was in the middle of rubbing one of his eyes as he noticing me standing there, with my hand still in the air. Instead of lowering it, I instead raised the other and Jack walked sleepily, but happily into the hug that I was offering.

"Good morning, " said Jack as he buried his nose in my neck. His hair tickled the sensitive skin.

"Good morning to you too," I chuckled. As he pulled away, I asked, "Sleep well?"

Jack smirked and said, "I've had better nights."

I blushed as he sent a wink my way, but quickly regained my composer and smirked, saying, "Agreed."

Jack held his arm out to me to take and happily, I linked my arm with his. Smiling I decided to start skipping down the hall with Jack in tow and our laughter rang our as we make our way to North's globe room.

I stopped as soon as we had entered the room and Jack slammed into me but I was too focused on the harsh glare coming from in front of me. Jack apologized but I could barely hear the words as I stared almost fearfully at Bunny's angry form. I felt Jack freeze from beside me and I knew that he had finally looked up and saw Bunny as well.

I don't know why but in the moment I felt a nervousness in my stomach and I wanted to throw up. Bunny was absolutely furious and he had caught me completely off guard. I had no idea how to react with out causing him to whip out his boomerangs and kill me. Should I say something? Should I stay quiet? Should I back away slowly and hope that I can get away before he could catch me?

"Bunny, is nice to see you," said North as he entered the room with Sandy and Tooth in tow. North's words broke through the tense silence and I stiffened as Bunny rounded on his heel and turned to face the three guardians behind him.

"What is SHE doing here?" yelled Bunny angrily. North calmly stepped forward as Tooth looked upset and Sandy indifferent at Bunny's words.

"She is here because she isn't a threat," answered North calmly. Bunny drew a boomerang and pointed it in my direction causing me to nervously take a step back and instinctively rest a hand on my axe.

"In case, you've forgotten. She's Pitch's daughter. You remember, he's the enemy," said Bunny and I wanted so badly to oppose him. I wanted so badly to explain to him that my father isn't evil. That he only wants a better life for himself and me even if it might be at the expense of others. Father only needs to find his balance when it comes to what he does. Pertaining to myself, I don't want Bunny thinking that I am the enemy either because all that I want is to prove myself to father and gain my freedom. I noticed that Sandy began using his sand to illustrate what he wanted to say but Bunny either didn't understand or ignored the golden man completely.

"Bunny, I may be his daughter but that doesn't make me the enemy," I said calmly once I had gathered enough courage to speak and cut through the bitter silence.

"Oh ya?" questioned Bunny, "then prove it."

I sucked in a deep breath to calm myself from the anger that was boiling up in my chest, "You want me to prove it? Fine. You see this mark on my forehead? That was because I fought my father to gain my rights and obtain my freedom. I am not your enemy, Bunny. When will you start actually listening to what I'm telling you? I don't want to live in his shadow any more. I want to live my own life, which means that just because I'm his daughter, it doesn't mean that I actually follow in his order."

Bunny was about to retaliate, probably to try and prove me wrong when another voice rang out among the hall, "Truly a marvelous speech, Hunter."

I turned in a circle and saw father stepping out from the shadows behind me. I felt my anger boiling in my veins and once more fueling my movement.

"Oh no you don't," I sneered, "you are not ruining this for me again."

"The only thing that you are doing Hunter is making a mess out of your life. Come home," father said simply. It seemed to fuel my anger even more and in a moment, a knife was out and heading towards his chest. He moved out of the way from my on coming attack easily and taunted me further by laughing as the knife buried itself into the wood from the workshop behind him.

"Not a chance. Get it through your head father, no one is attacking me. I'm safe. So you can go back into the hole in the ground and I'll meet you back there when I'm good and ready," I spat causing father's eyes to narrow dangerously.

"Hunter, if you do not come now there will be consequences," father muttered dangerously.

"Oh please. I'm already grounded for the next hundred years. What more could you possibly do?" I said mocking him.

"You're going to regret those words, Hunter," said father as he summoned guards to his side ready to attack and take me so I would forcably be removed from the location.

The guardians drew their weapons and I heard Bunny speak, "I knew we shouldn't have trusted her. Now she's bringing family matters into this!"

I rolled my eyes at Bunny's out break and drew out my axe before , "I'm not going with you."

"So be it," Father said angrily before sending out the guards in my direction, but I wasn't scared. As they ran towards me, I heard the guardians scramble to get out their weapons and I notice Jack step forward beside me in my peripheral vision.

The guards came closer and when they were mere feet away, I stepped up and in an authoritative voice, I yelled at them, "Stand down!'

The guards hooves skidded on the tiled floor as they came to a quick stop, a look of terror on their faces. I heard a collective gasp from not only the guardians but father as well as the guards obeyed my order. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck begin to stand on end as the adrenalin began sweep through my veins once more. I turned my gaze from the terror striken guards up to father's growling form. His fists were clutched angrily by his sides as he slowly lost his cool demeanor because I now had the upper hand. I could control the guards. It wasn't a fluke when I had yelled at them in the woods. I could do something that he could as well. I also had people backing me up. People who accepted me and would help me reach my dream of finally being free of his overprotective grasp.

I understand why father doesn't want me outside. I've disobeyed him but at my benefit. As well, I was safe about it, therefore the factor of the outside world being there only to hurt me is a false one. Besides, as I've clearly demonstrated multiple times now, I can defend myself when I'm being attacked. The lessons that father has given me on resourcefulness in battle has already proven itself to be useful many times already and I know when to run or when to stay and fight. That should be proof enough that I have grown and that I am capable of handling myself.

Furthermore, I understand that father doesn't like the guardians and the fact that I have become friends with them, upsets him because he thinks that it's their fault that he lost his power, which is unfortunately, something that he craves. However, something that he doesn't understand is that the specific thing that he adds into the world has to be dealt with in moderation. Despite that fact, I also think that the guardians can also loosen their rein and let father do his own job as well because in the end with some amount of fear, it can teach people to grow. As well, Father also needs to understand that people can believe in more than just one things. I believe that the children are capable of believing in father and the guardians if only they'd come to a suitable and only then, would I be completely free to roam as I please. I know this now. It is the only way to ensure happiness on all sides. I need to get all members to compromise. A difficult task; I understand, but not impossible.

"I said attack!" Father yelled at the guards, "Do your jobs!"

The guards once more intent on attacking us again faced us with a sort of scared determination. Their hoof beats thundered as they galloped in our direction once more and again I faced them saying, "Enough!"

Father's rein on them must have been stronger than my own because only a few of them stopped, which was just enough for me to swing my axe through their sandy bodies. The others were now fighting along side me once more. Even Bunny, which came as a pleasant surprise.

I hit a guard as it came up behind me with the butt of my axe and used the rebounded momentum to swing it through another oncoming guard on my other side. Unlike the last time that I fought the guards in North's workshop, this time father didn't stand around and watch because no sooner did I send my axe through a guard that was about to attack Bunny from behind and after a quick, "thank you mate" from my furry companion, did I see the inky black arrow being drawn. Father's stance was one of pride as he took aim at North, ready to strike him down.

"North!" I called out. My heart pounded in my chest as a frantic pace was set while in the midst of my panic as I pushed past the guards on my way to where North was fighting. I felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of my face as I exerted as much energy as I could afford to make sure that I make it to North in time. My feet pounded under me as it carried me closer to my goal and my mind raced as it thought of the ultimate worst case scenario of North laying dead because I wasn't fast enough. My vision was blurred as I focus so hard on the tall man, that I tuned almost everything else out. I wasn't far away from North to begin with; only a couple of meters really. I sent a quick glance over my shoulder and saw the arrow completely drawn back and ready to fire at any second. My feet continued to propel me those until I stood completely between North and father.

I had barely stopped moving when the raven arrow imbedded itself just under my right shoulder blade. The pain caused by the inky black arrow was white hot and caused tears to form in my eyes as I felt the grains of the weapon enter and move through my blood stream. As I collapsed to the ground, my vision becoming increasingly blurry, I heard all sounds stop. There was no more fighting and I was no better than my mother after all. I had failed her and at the back of my mind I registered that I had also failed the guardians.


	31. Chapter 30 The Puppet

Chapter 30: The Puppet

Unfortunately, unconsciousness wouldn't come and I was left awake as I felt the dark sand painfully make its way around my body. I curled in on myself in an attempt to shut everything out; the loud voices of my father arguing with the guardians, the warm air that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and I especially tried to ignore the sand arrow slowly sinking into my back. Instead I tried to focus on my breathing. It seemed like each breath was more and more difficult to suck in.

Then there was a sudden soothing coldness to fight off the warm air and even colder arms holding me up to face a blurry image and it added in cooling down my boiling skin as sweat glistened and rolled down the heated organ. The coolness numbed my body and made it easier to breathe. I could feel tears streaming down my face and obscuring my vision. The tears were also accompanied by another unknown source of water which dripped onto and down my face ever few seconds. The water was cold and numbed the pain that had made its way around my face.

The pain didn't subside in any way but instead I felt my body start to become cold and I found myself able to finally tune in to what the voices where saying. One voice spoke softly and cracked every so often. They whispered words of encouragement and reassurance. Despite how quietly the words were spoken, I noted blindly that this voice was closer than the others. The other voices were much louder and sounded angry. I couldn't really tell who was speaking. One voice spoke loudly and aggressively while another spoke in a businesslike manor. The final voice talking was a low voice that sounded more desperate than the others. The voice sounded broken as if they'd lost the most important thing in their life. It was then that I was able to pin point whose voice it was; father's.

The jumbled voices stared to slowly make sense and become understandable. Jack's voice sounded loudest in my ears despite how quietly he was talking, "Stay with me, Scarlett. Please."

I wanted to answer his please and tell him that I was going to go anywhere but my body didn't comply. All I could do was stare helplessly at him as I awaited for my body to listen when I tell the muscle groups to move. Tears were evident as they slid down his cheeks and I wanted nothing more to just move and wipe them away.

However, instead of just moving my arm to clear his face from his tears, my body moved until I was standing on my two feet. I wasn't at all in control. Something else was moving me and each little movement sent a searing pain through my body. I felt a fresh wave of tears streaming down my face as the pain was so unbearable that my vision became clouded by dark spots. A scream was stuck in my throat as whatever controlled me didn't physically allow me to cry out as the pain intensified as I stood.

It was only after a moment did I realise why I wasn't in control; the sand. Father controls the sand. The sand is in me because of the arrow and now he's taking control of the sand to move me around just like a puppet. He was using me at his leisure but controlling the sand just as a puppeteer would pull on the strings of a puppet to make it move.

"Scarlett!" Jack cried out as I began painfully moving towards father. I had barely taken a step away from the boy when he reached out a took my hand, stopping me. The tears intensified as the step caused more pain to shoot through my body and I could only wait for the moment in which I would become completely numb.

I felt my fist ball without me telling it to and desperately I tried to unclench it. It has only been a few short moments that the sand has been in my system and already I long to gain back control over my limbs. The fist raised itself and connected with Jack's cheek and for a moment after the hit, I felt father's control slip and my face contorted into one of horror.

My knees buckled and I was about to fall before I heard father say, "on your feet Hunter."

My body straightened itself at my father's orders and I was no longer in control anymore. My body turned to face father and I found myself feeling sorry for him. So this is what things must come down to in order for him to believe that I am safe. The sand moved me forward and I looked over father's malicious grin. It was horrific and I was sad to see what my father had become.

Bunnymund suddenly blocked not only my view of father but the path to get to him as well. I heard father growl and Bunny angrily yelled at me, "What the hell was that for Sheila?"

I wanted to answer but the sand wouldn't let me. Instead my body lowered into an athletic position and a hand was slowly reaching its way behind my back. My hand grasped one of my knives and my eyes widened. That was my only indicator to warn Bunny to run.

"She's not in control!" yelled Jack from behind me and I felt my form whip around to face the boy who was still on the ground holding his cheek. My arm was raise and I was about to throw the knife when a furry arms grabbed me and pinned my arms to my sides. The blade clattered out of my hand and fell onto the floor.

"Not in control?" Bunny asked.

"The sand! The sand is in her system. He's controlling her from the inside!" exclaimed Jack. My body began thrashing around in Bunny's grasp, my body kicked and wiggled, trying to escape his grasp. My eyes, however remained locked with Jack's and I fought against the sand to still my body. I wasn't expecting it to comply to my orders but when I went lip in bunny's arms, I knew something was up. This wasn't just a slip up of father's power.

I looked up at Jack with bewilderment and surprise but he was looking past Bunny at my father. I craned my neck to see what was happening and saw farther standing there patiently, almost contently, as North had one of his swords up to father's throat.

"You will release her," ordered North.

I heard father's laugh before he answered, "Oh no North, it will be you releasing her."

I suddenly felt like something was pressing into my body, adding pressure everywhere causing a white hot pain to rack through my body and I cried out desperately, "Stop, please!"

It felt like someone was playing with my insides and suddenly I wasn't able to breathe. It hurt so bad. I wanted to die. Anything to make the pain stop. I was openly crying again and black spots once again played in my field of vision. My body convulsed as it tried to take in the air that I so desperately needed.

Bunny's hold on me stayed tight and Jack collected himself and rushed over to me yelling, "Your hurting her! "

Father's voice was coy as he said, "Then let her go."

I felt the pressure increase inside of me and something snapped in my chest. My mouth fell open in a silent cry and for a moment I blacked out because when I opened my eyes again I was flopped over in bunny's arms with the large rabbit shifting anxiously from foot to foot.

"Was that a rib, Hunter?" asked father in a taunting manor but his voice sounded so far away. I could barely hear him and yet I knew that he was only a few meters away. There was a ringing in my ears and my skin felt hot again. The room began spinning and I felt sick.

Father's laughter filled the room and when it died down a voice like silver said, "Bunnymund, put her down."

The voice was eerily calm and one that was not all that unfamiliar to me. As I was lowered down onto my feet I felt a numbness absorb my body. The second my feet touched the floor I collapsed. Thankfully Jack caught me and helped to lower me onto the ground. I felt the hold from the sand almost vanish completely and I was once again in control of my body. I took in greedy gulps of air and attempted to clear my mind but the world was still spinning and unconsciousness was still remaining just outside of my grasp.

I had just enough energy to turn my head as I coughed up blood and I could feel my body ripple and shake from the amount of stress it had just been under. Blood trickled down my chin as I looked up at Jack for what I hoped was not the last time.

* * *

**a/n: DarkHorseBlueSky, sorry my dear for forgetting to write your name in the last author's note that I wrote. the message, however, was pertaining to you. The reason why Scarlett doesn't go by Hunter anymore can be found in chapter 6 when she first meets jack. But the name grows on her and becomes a symbol for breaking free of her father and becoming someone independent. Also, you'll notice that when pitch does call her hunter she retaliates and acts seemingly childish, which is the opposite of what she is trying to prove (independence) because children are seemingly dependent on their parents, which is what pitch sees and therefore the renders her incapable and with holds her from the independence she desires by doing things to insure her safety. Does that make sense? Moving on, sorry about the grammar in the last chapter, I'll try and clean it up for you. As well, my dear, I think that you should get some sleep if you're cranky. The effect it has on others could be devastating if misinterpreted and I don't want that to happen. finally, I think you'll be glad to know that there are only a few more chapters left of this story, so you won't have to put up with me for much longer. In the mean time, I'm sorry about the inconvenience or displeasure that this might bring you. Please feel free to contact me whenever and ill continue to take your criticism into mind when I write. Thank again for reading and taking the time out of your day to review :)**

**my deepest thanks,**

**-Juliet H.**


	32. Chapter 31: The Wait

Chapter 31: The Wait

Everything was dark and numb. There was a feeling of nothingness. I couldn't see anything. There was nothing to be heard and I couldn't feel anything. There was nothing to indulge my senses and the only thing that could potentially keep me company in this dark void was my thoughts.

I wondered where I was and how I had gotten here. What had happened to me? Was this a state of my unconscious being? I hadn't a clue. I waited patiently for something to happen. Anything really but when it did, I wasn't so happy that I had wished for it.

A sudden light shun in my eyes painfully and I forced them closed quickly. I could now feel a painful throb on my right hand side coming from my rib cage, making every breath a challenge. My head hurt too, although not so much as my ribs. I was lying down in what seemed to be a bed, with a comfortable mattress under me and soft sheets to keep me warm. Carefully, I opened my eyes once more and allowed them to adjust to the lighting of the room.

I was back at my old home meaning that I was with Father once more. The room was as empty and dark as I remembered it to be. The temperature of the room was easily nearing freezing and I pulled the covers closer to me. I had become accustom to this type of cold as a child but now that I was with Jack, he taught me to love the cold, but this wasn't the same. This cold seemed darker, more malevolent and it seemed to add pressure down on me to stay put.

I thought back to my most recent memories to find out what had happened to me. Just like the last time I was here, I chose to do a bit of an overall assessment to see where I should go from here. The last memory that I can remember is that of Jack looking down at me. Before that dad broke at least one if not more of my ribs. Right. That explains the pain. Before that came the arrow controlling my body and before that I was fighting along side the guards to defend myself from the guards and gain the right to my freedom. prow I was confined into a bed. How wonderful. Not.

I sighed quietly before I picked up the sound of heavy breathing that wasn't my own and I turned my head to see a guard standing at attention at my bedside. I groaned and tried to move but once more a searing pain shot though my body thanks to my ribs. Once it settled and I could breath calmly again, I turned my head to face the guard wondering what it wanted.

"Is there another one of you nearby?" I asked. My throat hurt to and it was dry. I wondered if maybe it had gotten injured in the fight as well. From there my thoughts traveled on and I wondered just whom else might have gotten hurt in this whole affair, if not just me. Where the others okay? If not how bad are their injuries?

I turned my attention back to the guard in time to see it nod its head. My eyes narrowed as a plan entered my mind, "Well then, go get him and bring him back here."

The horse nodded once more and went to leave through my open bedroom door. Just as it was about to exit, I stopped it, calling out, " Oh, and bring a pen and some paper."

The horse nodded once more and continued on its way and it gave me time to think. I wondered about father and where his whereabouts were. I also wondered how long I would be bed ridden and if I'd ever see Jack again. I cursed as the boy entered my mind once more. What would happen to us now? Will I ever see him again? I knew that it was cliché but it was definitely a possibility knowing father. I just hoped that my plan would go through well and everything would be okay.

The two guards finally came back in and I took the pad of paper from them. I sighed as I took the pen and went to place it on the paper. What would their reaction be? I didn't have a clue. I closed my eyes momentarily as I breathed in to calm down my raging thoughts. I suddenly felt like I was being watched and it wasn't because of the guards. I opened my eyes with a smirk now on my face, which only widened as I noticed that there was no one else in the room.

"Hey North, or whom ever is watching. I need you to assemble the guardians and come here. We are going to talk. All of us. No fighting. Just talking," I said. I waited for a moment and just as quickly as the feeling of being watched came, it went away. I quickly scribbled down what I had said out loud incase North wasn't watching and it just recorded. I sighed "SB" at the bottom of the note and tore it from the pad. I held it out to a guard who took it between his teeth.

"Take this to North immediately," I ordered the guard sternly. The guard took the time to nod before galloping out of the room. The other guard still stood at attention and I addressed it quickly, "Get my father."

The command was simple enough and the guard took it seriously as it galloped out of the room in a manor similar to its companion to go get father. As soon as I couldn't hear the beating of its hooves anymore, I sighed once more as I mentally prepared myself for the headache that was surely going to come. With the guardians and father being in the same room at least one part of me was going to get hurt and this time around I could only hope that it would be something as merciful as a head ache.

Father strode into the room and immediately ran over to my side, "Hunter, how are you feeling? Do you need anything."

"Yes, I need you to start calling me Scarlett, Father," I told him strictly. He said nothing but bowed his head before sitting on the edge of the bed and taking a hold of my hand.

"Anything for you, Scarlett" he responded quietly. Great, now he thinks that since I'm broken that he could fix the problem with showering me in things. Well this is just perfect. I figured, since he was doing it, I might as well get him to coordinate some agreement with either the man in the moon or the guardians.

"I would also like a glass of water please," I asked him politely. I wasn't really thirsty and my throat didn't hurt as much any more. Mostly I was just killing time until the guardians would arrive. If they would arrive.

" Of course," said Father as he stood up and walked to the bathroom which was attached to my room and returned with a glass filled almost to the brim with water. Father handed it to me and noticed my lying down position, "Would you like to sit up, Scarlett?"

"Yes please," I said, once again killing more time. When would they show up? We have matters to discus.

Father helped me to sit up on my bed at the expense of my ribs. The pain was excruciating and a couple of stray tears from shifting my body around streaked down my face. Once I was settled it took a while for the pain to go away again and even longer to get my breathing back to a steady pace. I wiped the last of the tears away with the back of my hand and took a sip of water. Father sat at the edge of my bed and awaited my next instructions.

It was then that the guardians finally decided to show up as a portal open from the far wall of my bedroom. Father stood up and alert, ready to fight. As the guardians filled through the portal, I yanked on father's arm and sternly told him to, "sit down."

Father complied but not without at least a mild form of protest, "What are you doing here guardians? You can't have her."

I could see that father was getting ready to summon his black sand and possibly some guards and rolled my eyes, not really in the mood to deal with his over protectiveness and said calm, "I invited them here."


	33. Chapter 32 The Talk

"You did what?" yelled father. I simply crossed my arms, bringing some pain to my ribs, and glared at my father.

"Yeah, that's right and you know what? You can't argue me on this because I invited them here to make a peace treaty so don't move. We," I said sternly while motioning to everyone in the room, "are going to sort out this problem like the adults we are."

Father glared at me for a moment and I shifted slightly causing a pain to shoot through my ribs. I winced and when I looked over at father once more his glare softened and I knew that I had won.

"Okay, um, first thing is first. Jack, come here," I said as I patted the bed on my right side, the side opposite of father. The white-haired boy cautiously moved to my side while keeping a wary eye on father. I patted the bed once more in encouragement and the boy finally came to sit by my side. I smirked as I lifted his hand and guided it so that it rested on my throbbing side with a sigh as the cold hand instantly began dulling the pain.

"Now that that is taken care of, here's the rules. No if, ands, or buts. First: No weapons. Of any kind. Second: when addressing another person during this meeting, you must be respectful about it because I don't want to deal with a headache caused by your shouting. Understood?" I asked with a quirked eyebrow and looked over the group of people, starting most pointedly with father and slowly making eye contact with everyone around the room, watching them all nod their head saying that they understood my rules. I smiled a bit once everyone had agreed and relaxed considerably.

"This meeting is about compromise. No one leaves until, everyone has come to an agreement. Guardians," I said, addressing the large group of people, "for you this means possibly giving a bit of leeway.

A groan came from what I assumed was Bunny and I sighed exasperatedly before turning my gaze to father, who had a smug look on his face. I didn't want to be a stick in the mud but this was one of those moments to knock the grin off of his face and I spoke, "Father, for you this might mean reigning in the terror so that it is within reason."

Father looked at me pointedly and I sassed him saying, "Yes, Father, you have something to say?"

"Yes, one, know your place Hunter-"  
"Scarlett," I corrected.

"Scarlett," he all but growled before continuing, "and second of all, I am doing my job. I am the boogeyman. Children must fear me!"

"Yeah, yeah, okay, simmer down," I turned my attention for father to sandy and asked, "Sandy, you control the gold sand right? And Father controls the black sand-"

"Nightmare sand," Jack stated and I sent him a quick smile as a thank you while sandy nodded.

"They both do stuff to people when they're asleep though, right? I mean, I know that yours give out good dreams and father's does something else, so what if you guys took turns dusting your sands on the kids. After all in the books that father use to provide me, people only remember a third or so of the dreams that they have. So if the two of you took turns would that be okay?" I asked the small man. Sandy shook his head and made a sand image above his head showing what was suppose to represent a monster. Beside the monster was the image of a child. The sand moved to form an "X" over the monster and I guessed at what the small man was saying, "The dreams are too scary for the kids?"

Sandy made an arrow pointing at father and I guessed at what he was saying again, "Father's nightmare sand is too scary for the kids?"

Sandy nodded vigorously and I turned my gaze back to father as he spoke, "They are not too scary. They are simply frightening enough for the children to believe in me."

I turned my gaze back to Sandy and said, "If father toned down the fear factor in the nightmare sand, would you take turns with him?"

Sandy seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding his head. Bunny stepped closer to his friend and pointed to father as he spoke, "Sandy, ya can't seriously be considering this!"

"Bunny," I said calmly, "do you control the dream sand?"

The giant rabbit seemed confused for a moment before answering, "No."

"Well then, we'll let Sandy decide since he can," I said, "After all if anyone knows best in this situation, it's Sandy."

"Last time this show pony was sendin' out nightmares, we nearly lost all of our believers," said Bunny.

"Is that important? The believers, I mean," I asked. Honestly, I've heard father go on about believers and I'm pretty sure that Jack has too. So Bunny bringing them up sparked that interest and curiosity in me about them again.

"Yeah," said Jack casually beside me as he readjusted his hand on my ribs and rubbing them a bit. The cold making them feel better.

I once again turned my gaze to father, "Is there a way for you not to take the guardians believers? There are children that believe in all five of them at once. I don't understand what's holding them back from believing in one more person."

Father sighed, "It isn't that simple Scarlett."

"Why isn't it?" I asked, genuinely intrigued.

"Because they protect them with their wonder and light. I'm not like that."

"You could be," I said softly. I offered father a small smile as he looked at me, "Fear is important. It helps people to not make reckless decisions and it can help them. You'd just have to change up your scare tactics a bit. That's all."

No one spoke for a second as they chewed over my words. North was the first to speak as he took a step up and spoke in his thick Russian accent, "Scarlett is right, Pitch."

"Very well," said father finally after taking a moment to think it over.

"Now we come to the difficult part; father, I want my freedom," I said boldly.

"You will stay here," ordered father, suddenly angry again.

"What have I to fear from people and spirits now? You've agreed to work together, so there isn't a threat anymore," I told father.

"My answer is still no. A new threat will always arise," said Father gravely.

"And we'll be there to protect her Pitch," said Tooth. Father faced the feathered woman with a glare.

"I said NO!" yelled Father. I could feel the beginnings of not only a headache coming on but my eyelids were beginning to droop tiredly. I'd have to find my freedom and quickly too.

"Father, please, I am capable. I lived with Jack for over a month and I did fine. I was even able to hold off your guards when they were attacking us," I pleaded.

"No, hunter," said Father sternly as he looked me over, "Just because I agreed to work with the Sandman doesn't mean that I trust these people."

"I know and I understand that father, " I said desperately, "But you have to give me a chance.

I shifted on the bed once more and winced as my ribs sent a searing pain through me once more and father sighed, "very well."

"I'm sorry what?" I asked, mostly in disbelief and partially because I was a bit confused. I know that this the second time that I've purposefully manipulated father using my injury but I didn't expect him to give in so soon.

"You may leave the lair," said father in a defeated voice.

"You're actually letting me out?" I asked happily.

"Yes," replied father slowly as if he wasn't quite sure of what he was saying.

"Why?" I asked. I knew that I couldn't let my hope get a head of myself. It could be a trick and I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

"Because I did that to you," said father as his gaze landed on Jack's hand which covered my ribs, "I was intent on protecting you. So much so that it hurt you. Therefore, if you think you can handle it, you have my blessing to VISIT the outside world."

"That's good enough for me. Thank you, Father," I said as I took fathers hand and pulled him towards me so that I could wrap my arms around his neck in a hug. It felt nice to hug him seeing as I haven't done the action towards Father in years. The hug was awkward to say the least because father was bent over in a strange position and didn't exactly hug me back properly but it was good enough for me. We broke apart and I smiled, then turned my gaze to Jack and took his hand in mine, giving it a gentle squeeze before yawning.

"You should rest, Scarlett. We will go," said North as he took a snow globe from his pocket. I nodded and smiled at the other guardians.

"Thank you all for doing this," I said with a smile.

"We should be the ones thanking you, Scarlett. You managed to stop this fight," said Tooth with a smile.

"Well, you know, it was nothing," I said bashfully.

"You've done well child. Thank you," said the calm voice from before.

I gasped through my tiredness, " Who said that?"

"Who said what?" asked Jack

"Someone said 'you've done well child. Thank you' but it wasn't one of you guys," I explained

"Was his voice soft and calm?" asked north and I nodded. A smile broke out onto North's face as he said, "Then it was man in moon."

"The man in the moon?" I said in wonder as father sneered. I would have shushed father if it hadn't been for the overwhelming sense of happiness that I felt. I smiled and looked up at the ceiling and said in response to his words, "Anytime."

I turned my gaze back to the leaving guardians and felt Jack's hands retract from my ribs. I looked up at the boy as he stood. A lopsided smile adorned his face, "I'll see you as soon as you're healed. I'll be waiting by my pond."

"I'll be seeing you soon then," I said with a smirk and Jack mimicked it as he bent down and kissed me softly before straighten up and joining the other guardians next to North. The large man smashed the globe on the ground and the guardians disappeared one by one after telling me a quick goodbye. I watched as the portal finally closed and I felt father stand from where he was sitting on my left side on the bed. I yawned once more and father walked to the door.

"You might want me to call you Scarlett but you will always be Hunter. You will always be my little girl," said father softly and I smiled softly at the man.

"I know that, father and I'm proud of that fact. I'm proud to have a father like you. After all, we've changed so much and come so far. Thank you for everything."

"No Hunter, thank you," said father and I yawned once more, "I'll see you when you wake up."

"Night dad, see you then," and for the first time in a long time, I was happy to be going to sleep in my bed at the lair because finally everything is as it should be. I have Jack. I have my freedom and finally, I have an identity. It just goes to show that with a little determination and hard work that one person really can make a difference. It doesn't matter if you're a good guy or a bad guy because sometimes it takes a neutral party to find peace and that is what I am and will always be.

**A/N EPILOGUE STILL TO COME! THERE MAY OR MAY NOT BE A SEQUEL (depends on my laziness. I'll keep you guys posted via my profile.)**


	34. Epilogue

Epilogue

It's been a month since I've been bed ridden do to my ribs and everyday Jack would come and visit me. It was cute really. Sometimes he'd bring flowers from warmer destinations since he says that he brought winter down farther south as we neared the end of November. Mostly we would just talk until Father kicked Jack out once more and as father would push Jack out of my room the boy would flash me a cheeky smile which made my heart beat just a little fast every time he did it before finally listening to father.

My head healed quite nicely in the time that it took for my ribs to heal and now all that remained on my forehead was a thin scar. My ribs healed quickly as well so by the time that I had hit the one month mark, I was completely healed and ready to get on with my life.

I had just woken up when father came in the room holding a plastic bag. I smiled at him and said a quick hello before getting to the point, "So, did you get it?"

Fathers lips curled upwards just the slightest bit into a smile and placed the plastic bag on my lap as I sat up, "See for yourself, Hunter."

"Scarlett," I corrected

"You are still my little girl, therefore you are still Hunter," father argued as I opened the bag. Several boxes of hair dye were inside. All a different shade of brown and dark gold. I had been planning to dye my hair back to its original colour for a while but it was all a matter of actually finding the right colour. The black had faded to a dark brown which I found to be an atrocious colour and my roots were showing.

"Whatever you say father," I said I tossed the blankets aside and got out of bed. Father helped me make my way to the bathroom before exiting and returning to whatever it is that he normally does. Thanks to the treaty father is already much stronger than he was before hand and things seemed to be looking up.

I looked myself over in the mirror my hair was a mess. I brushed it out quickly before following the instructions on the bottle. I applied the formula to my hair and waited the proper amount of time for the formula to get to work. I sat around for the next for the next twenty minutes before rinsing out the substance. I used a towel to dry out my hair and smiled as I saw that my hair was once more the auburn colour that I was born with. It was a little darker than it should have been because of the black that I didn't bleach out but I was happy with the results regardless of the fact.

I smiled at myself once more in the mirror before exiting the bathroom. I slowly and carefully made my way back to the bedroom and changed out of the clothes that I was wearing. I dressed myself in a pair of dark green pants and a black shirt. I put on my black combat boot and took my jacket from the chair beside my bed. I looked myself over in the mirror once more before finally leaving the room.

It took me a while to make my way to the command room and by the time I had gotten there my ribs were starting to feel sore. I entered the room and saw father standing around the globe with all the lights on it.

"And where do you think your going?" asked father without so much as glancing in my direction.

I smiled at him, "Outside. I'll be back just after sunset," I explained as I continued making my way out.

"Very well. I'll see you soon then. Be careful," said Father with a sigh. I smiled widely at him although his back was still turned and he couldn't see it. He was finally letting me out. I have finally been able to gain my independence. Best day ever.

I said a quick goodbye to father and made my way back outside. It was fairly cold outside and the ground was frozen and ready to be covered with snow. The walk to the lake was starting to get difficult because of my ribs weren't use to the motion of walking anymore but Jack was worth it.

When I finally finished making my way to the lake and sat down for a moment to give my ribs a rest. I took several deep breaths to try to ease the pain, all the while an enormous smile played on my lips. I felt the wind pick up behind me and thought nothing of it until I heard a familiar voice speak, "Wow hey, don't think I've seen you around here before. Are your new?

I turned around with a smirk on my face and watched as Jack's fell into one of shock. I raised a brow at the boy saying, "I don't know, Jack. Am I new?"

Jack's face broke out into a smile and he use the wind to push himself towards me, "Scarlett! Your hair is different. Its nice. I missed you."

"Its only been a couple of days, Jack," I said with a chuckle as I stood up. I was barely on two feet when Jack decided that now was a good time to crush me in a hug.

"Pitch let you out?" he asked.

"Yeah, he did. I told him I'd be back after sunset. So we have all day to hang out," I informed him as I pulled back just enough so that I could see his beautiful face.

Jack got that glint in his eyes that he always got when he was up to something. He pulled me against him tighter and whispered in my ear, "Well then, lets go have some fun."

Before I could say anything more, Jack rocketed into the sky with me in tow and both of us laughing as we flew farther from my home with father.

**a/n: Thank you so much all of you for putting up with me and joining me on this adventure. I had a blast writing it and hopefully we'll get to see more of hunter/scarlett in the future. ((((ive already come up with a plot line for a sequel but I just need to have the patience to type it out. so a sequel is definitely looking like a possibility. (((((Please note that if I do go through with the sequel there probably wont be a fixed schedule for it because Im going away for two weeks at the start of summer and two weeks at the end of summer))))) Thank you all again for everything and I wish you all the best in the future. **

**With love,**

**Juliet H.**


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